Aadhaar data safe behind huge walls, says Attorney General to SC
Centre says real beneficiaries of Aadhaar are protected.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday made it clear to the Centre that no person should be denied pension or other social security benefits for non possession of Aadhaar card and government must spell out the mechanism to ensure that there is no “financial exclusion”.
A five-judge Constitution bench made this oral observation to the Attorney General K.K. Venugopal, when he defended the Aadhaar scheme on the ground that it was meant to provide benefits to marginalised sections of society.
Venugopal, arguing further in the matter apprised the court that Aadhaar data is stored behind 13 feet high and 5 feet wide walls in servers maintained by the Central Identities Data Repository (CIDR).
He added that a four-minute video demonstrating the infrastructure can be played with the consent of the Court to allay fears of data security.
The AG also submitted that so far no one had come to court complaining that they are denied benefits for not having Aadhaar. The AG told the court that the core effort of the Aadhaar Act was to protect the money spent on bridging the gap between the rich and the poor.
On petitioners' concerns of data security, he said the government has taken every effort to ensure it and that the Aadhaar was not a “fly-by-night scheme, but a serious effort to insulate deserving beneficiaries from the effects of corruption”.