Considering India’s apex court has been on a roll right now with some landmark judgements (read: Section 377), the bar of expectations on the Supreme Court’s Aadhaar verdict was set quite high.
The ‘Aadhaar case’ has gone on to become the second-longest hearing in the history of the Supreme Court.
It was essentially a group of petitions that challenged the consitutional validity of the Aadhaar programme and the Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Act of 2016 that enabled it.
After nearly 38 working days and five months, today a five-judge bench has delivered the much anticipated Aadhaar verdict—it is constitutionally valid, but conditions apply.
As the below meme from Twitter suggests, the SC bench, comprising CJI Dipak Misra, Justice AM Khanwilkar, Justice Chandrachud, Justice Ashok Bhushan and Justice AK Sikri, have managed to pull of quite a balancing act with the verdict.
SC judges on #AadhaarVerdict pic.twitter.com/fNCP2CoGJX
— Rofl Gandhi 2.0 (@RoflGandhi_) September 26, 2018
The verdict was 4:1 in favour of Aadhaar, with only Justice Chandrachud being the lone dissent on the bench.
Breaking: #Aadhaar program in it's entirety is unconstitutional: Justice Chandrachud's landmark dissent
— Live Law (@LiveLawIndia) September 26, 2018
So wait, what does that mean for the people?
In a nutshell, Aadhaar linking with mobile numbers, bank accounts and for admissions in educational institutions is no longer mandatory. However, the SC bench has upheld the seeding of PAN with Aadhaar.
In his dissenting judgment, Justice Chandrachud said that the Aadhaar Act was liable to be struck down as being violative of Article 110. He has asked telecom operators to delete all data they have collected from users.
Naturally, Twitter has their own verdict to pass about the Aadhaar Verdict! And quite predictably, it is hilarious!
This is how you can unlink your Aadhaar with everything you linked in past. 😂 #AadhaarVerdict pic.twitter.com/lLaxrDicCG
— Godman Chikna (@Madan_Chikna) September 26, 2018
#AadhaarVerdict clears that linking of mobile number to aadhar isn't mandatory. The judges also observed that Aadhar isn't a snooping tool for govt, it can track you down during morning walks & marriage functions even without an aadhar card.
— Rofl Gandhi 2.0 (@RoflGandhi_) September 26, 2018
Quick summary of Aadhaar Verdict –
When dealing with Government, use Aadhaar card.
When dealing with anyone else, use AnAadhaar card.#AadhaarVerdict #SupremeCourt— Ramesh Srivats (@rameshsrivats) September 26, 2018
#AadhaarVerdict pic.twitter.com/7bvNWn7dDq
— Akshay (@AkshayKatariyaa) September 26, 2018
The major remarks are on the fact that it is a tad bit confusing since the PAN-Aadhaar linking sort of brings things to square one!
Supreme court judges on #AadhaarVerdict pic.twitter.com/YEi57wYbBc
— shivam (@meshivamsingh) September 26, 2018
https://twitter.com/AryaAsmita/status/1044848685203566593
Aadhar Card not mandatory for opening Bank Account. PAN Card mandatory for Bank Account. PAN-Aadhar Mandatory for filing Tax returns. #AadhaarVerdict pic.twitter.com/lGxX6VgfiE
— Trendulkar (@Trendulkar) September 26, 2018
Pancard mandatory but Aadhaar is not mandatory for bank acc but Aadhaar-pan link is mandatory. #AadhaarVerdict
so in layman's terms, pic.twitter.com/oHoFTa3ggf
— rimzim (@panipury) September 26, 2018
Aadhaar Card is not mandatory for opening Bank Account. But PAN Card is mandatory for Bank Account. And PAN-Aadhar are Mandatory for filing Tax returns. #AadhaarVerdict pic.twitter.com/SIpkh9hNZg
— Sagar (@sagarcasm) September 26, 2018
Figuring out where Aadhaar is mandatory and where not after #AadhaarVerdict pic.twitter.com/nvJMlBNtou
— Krishna (@Atheist_Krishna) September 26, 2018
✓Aadhar not mandatory for opening bank account
✓Pancard mandatory for opening bank account
✓Aadhar-pancard linking mandatory
So inshort,
For a Bank Account An #Aadhaar linked PAN is necessary 🤭🤭🤣🤣
What a balancing act by Supreme Court! 🤣#AadhaarVerdict— Piyu 👩⚕️ 🇮🇳 (@Piyu_Nair) September 26, 2018
But the huge boo-hoo to telecom operators who kept on insisting for the Aadhaar linking is being celebrated!
Remember those never ending alerts by mobile operators?#AadhaarVerdict pic.twitter.com/idJih95nVs
— Rajesh Kumar Pal (@saregamapal) September 26, 2018
https://twitter.com/imNeeki/status/1044832739504132098
Lol, can't get out. #AadhaarVerdict pic.twitter.com/RBxfHiWKwx
— Godman Chikna (@Madan_Chikna) September 26, 2018
Well, turns out, you can’t get it all, but something’s better than nothing, no?
Donno side ki rakh li SC ne 😂😂😂 #AadhaarVerdict
— Akshay (@AkshayKatariyaa) September 26, 2018
Well played, Supreme Court. Well played!