The Supreme Court today directed the Centre not to shareAadhaar card details with any agency without the consent of the card holder.

It also asked the government to immediately withdraw all the orders which had made Aadhaar card compulsory for registration of marriage or property or availing of subsidy onLPG cylinders or any other service.

The court reiterated its order passed in September last year that no one should suffer for not having the card. The bench comprising Justices BS Chauhan and J Chelameswar passed the order in a case of gang rape from Goa.

A court there had asked the UIDAI to share biometric data of residents in the state to crack the case. The authority moved the Bombay high court against it but the high court did not prevent the sharing of Aadhaar details with CBI.

Solicitor General Mohan Parasaran, who argued for UIDAI, was told by the judges that they were receiving a number of letters complaining that the government was insisting on the Aadhaar card for providing services despite the September order. "You issue instructions withdrawing the notifications making the Aadhaar card mandatory for availing of services," the court told the counsel. Parasaran, who also represented the government said, "We will do it immediately." The court observed that it had already passed its order and it should be strictly implemented.

While staying the high court order, the Supreme Court issued notice to the CBI seeking the agency's response to the authority's petition. The Supreme Court also clarified once again that no person could be deprived of any service for not possessing the Aadhaar card, provided he/she was otherwise eligible.

The court has been hearing for some time the challenge to the validity of the scheme, moved in several public interest petitions. The hearing is yet to be completed.

The privacy issue, one of the main attack on the scheme, was highlighted in this case of the gang rape of a seven-year-old girl in a school 14 months ago and the case is still under investigation. The investigators have some fingerprints and they want the Aadhaar card to ascertain the identity of the suspects. The card is supposed to be authoritative in recording fingerprints, iris and facial images.

UIDAI submitted to the court that if the high court upholds the order of the Goa court it would open a floodgate of such demands by courts and other authorities. It said that the UIDAI system has been developed "for civilian use and for non-forensic purposes".

If the data is used for non-civilian purposes, it would affect lakhs of innocent people, the appeal said. Sharing information with other agencies would violate a person's right to privacy since the current data-sharing policy and guidelines clearly provides that biometric data cannot be shared without the consent of the resident, it was argued. (Business Standard)