The Supreme Court on Monday said the Aadhar Card cannot be mandatory for Welfare Schemes by the Central Government. They also added that they cannot restrain the government from linking the Aadhar’s 12 digit Id number to bank accounts opening and also in filing tax returns.
In the second week of March, the government has made Aadhar number a mandate for filing Income Tax and also for nearly three dozen central schemes that include midday meals for kids, scholarships and other schemes for the BCs and disabled. It is also mandatory to submit Aadhar number for cooking gas subsidy and also food grains. The government has issued that it will enable biometric id documents by the 30th of June to all the citizens. The Aadhar was made mandatory for tax filing as the finance minister Arun Jaitley felt it will help in tracking tax evasion. The SC said that they cannot restrict the government from doing so but has passed ruling today that the official welfare schemes need not have a mandate of the Aadhar Card.
Replying to the opposition’s criticism in Parliament, the finance minister had said that in the future Aadhar Card will be the only card required for identification and will replace PAN card or Permanent Account Number and Voter ID. He also said that 98% of the 108 crore population have already been issued Aadhar numbers. The Centre has also asked the states to link Aadhar card with the ration card or with bank accounts so as to enable cash transfer for food subsidy. This is till Aadhar card gets all the beneficiaries for food subsidy.
The use of Aadhar makes the system more transparent and efficient for the delivery benefits or subsidies.
