Things Happened Today | 17th January

The Aadhar Case: Five judge constitution bench of Supreme Court comprising of CJI Dipak Mishra, Justices D Y Chandrachud, A K Sikri, A M Khanwilkar and Ashok Bhushan today began the hearing on the batch of petitioners challenging the Aadhar act.
Justice D Y Chandrachud said,  “Can’t the State have a countervailing interest? For instance, there are many schools without students… They (State) may say all we are trying to do is to ensure that money is going where it ought to… If you are depending on social welfare benefits, equally the State has countervailing interests to ensure that they reach the right people,” Senior Advocate Shyam Divan, who appeared for the petitioners, replied that such savings, they had found, were minimal. Petitioners also alleged aadhaar is a "giant electronic mesh" and will turn the country "into a surveillance state".

After enrolling for Aadhaar, a person is required to authenticate his or her biometrics to avail benefits. But the algorithm followed by the unique identity is “probabilistic” which means that authentication may or may not happen, Divan said, adding that this will have the effect of making the subscriber’s entitlement wholly dependent on the authentication. “This leads to excluding people from services. How can anyone’s right be made probabilistic?” he submitted.

CJI said, “Article 21 confers fundamental rights which include the right to education. To ensure that, they (State) must ensure that teachers and students come to school. They may say their purpose is this.” He also referred to fingerprint collection at entry gates of offices etc. Divan said that the petitioners had no problem with biometrics being required at entry gates etc. “Our objection is to a central registry which stores the data. Then you know exactly, from cradle to grave, what a person is doing,” he said.

Raising their challenge, the petitioners also questioned the manner in which such an important legislation was introduced as a money Bill. Divan said the law must fall for this reason alone, adding “it is a colourable legislation”. The arguments will continue Thursday.

Judge Loya Case: The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the Maharashtra government to share all documents linked to the death of CBI judge B.H. Loya, if considered appropriate, with the PIL petitioners seeking a CBI probe. However the two-judge Bench of Justices Arun Mishra and Mohan M. Shantanagoudar also said the case may be put up before the appropriate Bench, suggesting that it may not want to hear the case further after the press conference of the Supreme Court's 4 senior most judges.

Padmavaat: The producers of Padmavaat moved to Supreme Court against the ban of the film in 6 states - Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. The top court has agreed to hear the plea of producers. A bench comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud considered the submission of producer's counsel that the matter be heard urgently after the ban on its release by various state governments. The movie is slated to release on 25th January, 2018.

India vs South Africa: Test 2 - South Africa won by 135 runs - India 151/10.

Proxy Voting: The Parliamentary panel on External Affairs headed by Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Tuesday, examined the process of proxy voting for NRIs. The committee was briefed on “Voting Rights to NRIs” by MEA Secretary (Economic Relations) Vijay Keshav Gokhale and Secretary, Legislative Department, G. Narayana Raju. If proxy voting is meant to make it easier for NRIs to exercise their franchise and save up on travel costs, then why shouldn’t the same facility be extended to a migrant worker within India? This and many other questions were raised at a meeting. The panel members also asked how to have secret ballot in proxy voting. 

Rs 10 Coin: RBI told today, all the 14 designs of Rs. 10 coin are valid and legal tender for transactions, after some traders showed reluctance in accepting Rs. 10 coins, which come in different shapes and sizes.


Stay tuned for more updates. Feel free to comment.