Daijiworld Media Network
New Delhi, Apr 17: The Supreme Court has questioned if the democracy can survive when Aadhaar data leak can influence the electoral outcome of the country.
A five-judge bench comprising of Justice DY Chandrachud, Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justices AK Sikri, AM Kanwilkar and Ashok Bhushan were hearing petitions regarding the validity of Aadhaar on Tuesday.
“The real apprehension is the data available can influence the electoral outcome of a country. Whether democracy can survive where Aadhaar data is used to influence the electoral outcome. We have seen this happening. What is the nature of safeguards available in the absence of data protection law? You must understand that the problems are not symptomatic but real,” told Justice DY Chandrachud to senior counsel Rakesh Diwedi, appearing for Unique Identity Authority of India and Gujarat government.
Diwedi justified stating that collection of data under Aadhaar is not an atomic bomb. Authentication is an algorithm which is one to one and there is no question of sharing of information with anyone. He said the moment the data collected by requesting entities for authentication is submitted, it is encrypted and there is no possibility of leakage.
“Technology is advancing and we have limitations of understanding the technological developments,” Diwedi said.
Justice DY Chandrachud responded “merely because of limitations of knowledge we can’t have a blinkered view of reality; because we are going to lay down a law which will affect the future generation.”
Diwedi’s submission that not a single person has approached to court for being denied benefits due to authentication failure was termed “being philosophical” and Justice Chandrachud said, “It is not that every person should come to court. You must have an administrative mechanism by which benefit is not denied to anyone for authentication failure.”
“One area of concern is the potential interface of the data which is available outside the world. There is a big entity which is controlling the data now,” observed Justice Chandrachud to which Diwedi assured the court that the data is protected and safe from leakage.
Individuals are being numbered with Aadhaar, similar to what Hitler had done, submitted the petitioners. But, Diwedi countered saying that it is not numbering the individuals but ‘being identified’ by means of a number.
He added that Aadhaar ensures that real beneficiaries are not deprived of benefits and frauds are kept at bay.
Diwedi submitted that Aadhaar is a ‘revolutionary concept’ and ‘not a panacea for all ills’. It is a ‘starting point and not the end point,’ he said.
Justice Chandrachud countered “the problem is when (authentication) technology is deterministic it can lead to deprivation of fundamental rights”.“Nobody can predict what can happen tomorrow. Authentication failure or rejection or data mismatch should not result in deprivation of benefits,” he added.
The proceedings were stopped and the arguments are posted to continue on April 18.