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Finance Minister Arun Jaitley while justifying Lok Sabha's rejecting the amendments made by the Upper house to the Aadhaar Bill said adoption of changes would have pushed the legislation, aimed at streamlining the payment of benefits, into realms of unconstitutionality. Acceptance of the amendments would have led to much wider encroachment of the Right of Privacy and an auditor or an anti-corruption authority overseeing issues of national security, he said in a Facebook post. (PTI)
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1. Arun Jaitley on Aadhaar Bill: "These lacunae would have pushed the Aadhaar law to the realm of unconstitutionality. Obviously, the Lok Sabha did not agree with the above suggestions, and in my view, rightly so." (Express Photo)
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2. Arun Jaitley on Aadhaar Bill: FM said the legislation, aimed at better targeting of subsidies and benefits through use of unique identification number, contains stringent provisions both substantially and procedurally to protect privacy. While National Security is the only ground on which a Competent Authority can share core bio-metric information contained in Aadhaar, amendments wanted the condition to be replaced with "vague" and "elastic" Public Emergency or in the interest of public safety. (Express Photo)
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Arun Jaitley: The government will push for consolidation of the public sector banks once they are recapitalised and strengthened, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said today. "We have now undertaken this exercise of recapitalisation of banks within the existing resources. I am trying to find additional resources for that purpose… strengthen the banks. Once they are strengthened, I am going for consolidation of some of the banks," he said at a event organised by IFC in New Delhi. (Reuters)
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4. Arun Jaitley on Aadhaar Bill: FM said the Congress, using its superior numbers in the Rajya Sabha, forced an amendment to replace the words 'National Security' with the words "Public Emergency or in the interest of public safety". None of these two phrases are well defined. They are vague and can be elastic. (Express Photo)
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5. Arun Jaitley on Aadhaar Bill: "It is also not clear as to how Aadhaar information would have been used in dealing with situations of public emergency or public safety," he said. Jaitley added that there had been an extensive public debate on the need for the Unique Identity Number for each resident and the desirability of not compromising with the Right to Privacy. (Express Photo)
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6. Arun Jaitley on Aadhaar Bill: "The 2010 Bill drafted by the UPA had provisions in chapter VI which led to this debate. The Bill provided for sharing of identity information with the consent of the Aadhaar number holder, or by an order of any court, or a Competent Authority, disclosing the information on the grounds of 'National Security'. The draft Bill was criticised for making provisions which could compromise an individual's Right to Privacy," FM added. (Express Photo)
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7. Arun Jaitley on Aadhaar Bill: Stating that privacy is an essential aspect of personal liberty guaranteed by Article 21 of the Constitution, FM said the denial of privacy must be based on procedure which should be fair, just and reasonable. "The 2016 law, therefore, contained stringent provisions both substantially and procedurally with regard to the Right of Privacy," he said. (Express Photo)
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8. Arun Jaitley on Aadhaar Bill: "National Security is the only ground on which a Competent Authority can share this information. National Security is a well defined concept. The phrase exists in several legislations and also finds indirect reference in the Constitution in Article 19(2)," he said. (Reuters)
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9. Arun Jaitley on Aadhaar Bill: Stating that this proposed amendment wanted all future laws to be over-ruled, he said: "Had a Money Bill started overruling future unknown legislations, it would have ceased to be a Money Bill. Had the amendments proposed in the Rajya Sabha been accepted, the encroachment to the Right of Privacy would be much wider. The Oversight Committee, on issues of national security, would have consisted of either an auditor or an anti-corruption authority, and the Money Bill would have gone beyond the scope of the Money Bill." (Express Photo)
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10. The core bio-metric information cannot be shared with any person even with the consent of the Aadhaar card holder. Also, the information cannot be unlawfully shared and instead of permitting any court to direct production of any such information, only a Court of the District Judge or above has been given the power to order disclosure of information excluding core biometrics. (Express Photo)
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