CIVIL ORIGINAL JURISDICTION
WRIT PETITION (CIVIL) NO 494 OF 2012
Versus
T C ( C) NO 152 OF 2013
W P (C) NO 372 OF 2017
O R D E R S
Dr D Y CHANDRACHUD, J
1 We have heard submissions on interim relief. The prayer for interim relief
at this stage is essentially based on the earlier orders of this Court dated 23
September 2013, 24 March 2014, 16 March 2015, 11 August 2015 and 15
October 2015. The interim directions dated 15 October 2015 were issued by a
Constitution Bench. The primary submission of the petitioners is that in terms of
the interim order of the Constitution Bench: (i) Aadhaar Cards could permissibly
be utilized only for six schemes (two of them provided for in the order dated 11
August 2015 and four in the order dated 15 October 2015); (ii) the Union
Government was directed to strictly follow the earlier orders of this Court
commencing from 23 September 2013; and (iii) the Aadhaar card scheme was to
be purely voluntary and could not be made mandatory until the matter is finally
decided by this Court.
2 Mr Shyam Divan, learned senior counsel urged that since the interim order
dated 15 March 2015 governs the field it was the obligation of the Union
government to seek a variation of the interim directions after the enactment of the
Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and
Services) Act, 2016 before making it mandatory to uplink or provide details of the
Unique Identification Number/Aadhaar card for all purposes.
3 Mr Gopal Subramanium, learned senior counsel while advancing the same
submission urged that the issue involves the paramountcy of the Court and of
the judicial process. In the submission of the learned counsel, the exercise of the
judicial power in the form of the interim order dated 15 October 2015 (and the
earlier orders) was to insulate citizens against any form of compulsion, this being
in aid of protecting their fundamental rights.
4 Mr Arvind Datar, Mr KTS Tulsi, Mr Anand Grover, Mr KV Viswanathan, Ms
Minakshi Arora and Mr Sanjay Hegde, among other learned counsel urged
submissions on various facets in support of the prayer for interim relief.
5 On the other hand, Mr K K Venugopal, the learned Attorney General for
India urges that the interim directions were issued in the absence of a legislative
framework. After Parliament has enacted the Aadhaar Act, 2016 (which came into
force on 12 July 2016) the interim orders would, in his submission, not pose any
impediment to enforcing the provisions of the law, duly enacted. Moreover, the
reasonableness of each notification would have to be justified by the department
concerned. The learned Attorney General has been supported in his submissions
by Mr Aryama Sundaram, learned senior counsel appearing on behalf of UIDAI
and Mr Rakesh Dwivedi, learned senior counsel.
6 Having due regard to the importance of the issues which have been raised
in the case, which has led to the judgment of nine Judges of this Court on 24
August 20171, we are of the considered view that the resolution of the issues
raised before the Court should proceed at the earliest, after the Court
reassembles in January 2018. This will ensure clarity for citizens on the one
hand and for the Union and the state governments and the instrumentalities on
the other hand.
7 Learned senior counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioners as well as
the learned Attorney General for India and all the other counsel supporting his
submissions have agreed to the suggestion of the Court that the final hearing of
the case commence on 17 January 2018. We direct accordingly.
8 The matter which needs consideration in the meantime is the interim
arrangement which should govern the field.
9 The learned Attorney General for India has stated that :
1 (2017) 10 SCC 1
(i) The Union government has extended the deadline for Aadhaar linkage with all
schemes of its Ministries/Departments until 31 March 2018;
(ii) As far as Aadhaar linkage with bank accounts is concerned, for existing bank
accounts, the last date for the completion of the process may be extended to 31
March 2018;
(iii) In so far as new bank accounts are concerned, while the last date for
completing the process of Aadhaar linking may be extended until 31 March 2018,
persons desirous to open new accounts shall produce proof to the bank of an
application having been submitted for obtaining an Aadhaar card together with
the application number which shall be supplied to the account opening bank; and
(iv) As regards Aadhaar based E-KYC for mobile phone subscribers, as held by a
Bench of two learned Judges of this Court by its order dated 6 February 2017 in
Lokniti Foundation v Union of India and Another2, the process of completing
the E-KYC process is to be completed by 6 February 2018. The Union
government informs the Court, that consistent with the extension of the deadline
to 31 March 2018 in other cases, this Court may consider passing appropriate
orders.
10 In terms of (i) and (ii) above, we accept the statement of the learned
Attorney General for India and order accordingly.
2 (2017) 7 SCC 155
11 In terms of (iii) above, subject to the submission of the details in regard to
the filing of an application for an Aadhaar card and the furnishing of the
application number to the account opening bank, we likewise extend the last date
for the completion of the process of Aadhaar linking of new bank accounts to 31
March 2018.
12 In terms of (iv) above we extend the date for the completion of the E-KYC
process in respect of mobile phone subscribers until 31 March 2018.
13 Consistent with the above directions, we also direct that the extension of
the last date for Aadhar linkage to 31 March 2018 shall apply, besides the
schemes of the Ministries/Departments of the Union government to all state
governments in similar terms. As a consequence of the extension of the deadline
to 31 March 2018, it is ordered accordingly.
14 We also clarify that in so far as the provisions of Section 139 AA of the
Income Tax Act, 1961 are concerned, the matter stands governed by the
judgment of this Court in Binoy Visman v Union of India3.
3 Writ Petition (C ) No 247 of 2017
15 The above arrangement shall continue to operate pending the disposal of
the proceedings before the Constitution Bench.
16 The Registry shall list the entire batch of connected cases for final hearing
on 17 January 2018.
[A. K. SIKRI]
New Delhi December 15, 2017
Writ Petition (Civil) No. 494/2012
JUSTICE K.S.PUTTASWAMY(RETD) & ANR. Petitioners
VERSUS
UNION OF INDIA & ORS. Respondents
WITH T.C.(C) No. 151/2013 (XVI-A) T.C.(C) No. 152/2013 (XVI-A) T.P.(C) No. 1796/2013 (XVI-A) SLP(Crl) No. 2524/2014 (II-A) (FOR PERMISSION TO FILE ANNEXURES ON IA 4/2016, FOR DIRECTIONS ON IA 5/2017 and FOR STAY APPLICATION ON IA 6/2017) (FOR INTERIM PRAYERS FOR GRANT OF INTERIM RELIEF ON IA 1/2017, IA No. 129017/2017-impleading party, IA No.129021/2017- CLARIFICATION/ DIRECTION, IA No.129027/2017-impleading party, and IA No.129032/2017-CLARIFICATION/DIRECTION) W.P.(C) No. 372/2017 (X) (FOR ADMISSION and IA No.102155/2017-GRANT OF INTERIM RELIEF) (FOR ADMISSION and I.R. and IA No.107091/2017-GRANT OF INTERIM RELIEF and IA No.122999/2017-impleading party) W.P.(C) No. 1056/2017 (X)
Date : 15-12-2017 This matter was called on for pronouncement of
Order today. For Petitioners
Mr. Gopal Subramanium, Sr. Adv.
Ms. Aishwarya Bhati, Adv.
Mr. Jaideep Singh, Adv.
Mr. Gp. Capt. Karan Singh Bhati
Mr. T. Gopal, Adv.
Mr. Amit Verma, Adv.
Ms. Tanuja Patra, Adv.
Ms. Ritu Apurva, Adv.
Ms. Drishti Singh Rathore, Adv.
Mr. Dinesh Kumar, Adv.
Mr. Gopal Subramanium, Sr. Adv.
Mr. Jaideep Singh, Adv.
Ms. Archana Pathak Dave, AOR
Mr. Talha Abdul Rahman, Adv.
Mr. Ankur Kashyap, Adv.
Mr. Prateek Chadha, Adv.
Mr. Jayavardhan Singh, Adv.
Mr. Pavan Bhushan, Adv.
Mr. Vivek Raja, Adv.
Mr. Hitesh, Adv.
Mr. Anand Grover, Sr. Adv.
Mr. Anando Mukherjee, AOR
Mr. Prasana S., Adv.
Ms. N. Srinidhi Rao, Adv.
Ms. Stuti Vatsa, Adv.
Mr. Shyam Divan, Sr. Adv.
Mr. Pratap Venugopal, AOR
Mr. Udayaditya Banerjee, Adv.
Mr. Prasanna S., Adv.
Ms. Samiksha Godiyal, Adv.
Ms. Niharika, Adv.
Mr. Shyam Divan, Sr. Adv.
Mr. Vipin Nair, Adv.
Mr. P.B. Suresh, Adv.
Mr. Udayaditya Banerjee, Adv.
Mr. S. Prasanna, Adv.
Ms. Samiksha Godiyal, Adv.
Mr. Prithu Garg, Adv.
Mr. Abhay Pratap Singh, Adv.
Mr. Govind Manoharan, Adv.
Mr. Vipin Nair, AOR
Mr. K.V. Vishwanathan, Sr. Adv.
Ms. Vrinda Bhandari, Adv.
Mr. N. Sai Vinod, Adv.
Mr. T.V.S. Raghavendra Sreyas, AOR
Mr. Arvind Datar, Sr. Adv.
Mr. Prasanna S., Adv.
Mr. Apar Gupta, Adv.
Mr. Deepayan Mandal, AOR
Mr. Koshy John, Adv.
Ms. Pragya Baghel, Adv.
Ms. Anusha Natrajan, Adv.
Ms. Samten Doma, Adv.
Ms. Meenakshi Arora, Sr. Adv.
Mr. Rahul Narayan, AOR
Mr. Apar Gupta, Adv.
Ms. Annanya Ghosh, Adv.
Mr. Shashwat Goel, Adv.
Mr. Gautam Bhatia, Adv.
Ms. Bhawna, Adv.
Mr. Shuvodeep Roy, Adv.
Mr. Anish Kumar Gupta, AOR
Mr. Avdhesh Kumar Singh, Adv.
Mr. R.K. Rajwanshi, Adv.
Mr. Chandra Shekhar Suman, Adv.
Ms. Deep Shikha Bharti, Adv.
Ms. Rita Gupta, Adv.
M/s. K J John And Co, AOR
M/s. Meharia & Company, AOR
Mr. Prashant Bhushan, AOR
Mr. Abhishek Atrey, AOR
Mr. Shadan Farasat, AOR
Ms. Jyoti Mendiratta, AOR
Mrs. Geetha Kovilan, AOR
Mr. Pranaya Kumar Mohapatra, AOR For Respondents/ Applicants Mr. K.K. Venugopal, AG
Mr. Zoheb Hossain, AOR
Ma. Ankur Talwar, Adv.
Mr. Shraddha Deshmukh, Adv.
Ms. Anil Katiyar, Adv.
Mr. Rakesh Dwivedi, Sr. Adv.
Mrs. Hemantika Wahi, AOR
Ms. Jesal Wahi, Adv.
Ms. Shodhika Sharma, Adv.
Mr. Jatinder Kumar Bhatia, AOR
Mr. Ashutosh Kumar Sharma, Adv.
Mr. Jugal Kishore Gilda, Adv. Gen. Mr. Aniruddha P. Mayee, AOR Mr. Chirag Jain, Adv.
Dr. Lalit Bhasin, Adv. Ms. Nina Gupta, Adv. Mr. Mudit Sharma, Adv.
Ms. Palak Chadha, Adv.
Ms. Aruna Mathur, Adv. Mr. Avneesh Arputham, Adv. Ms. Anuradha Arputham, Adv. Ms. Simran Jeet, Adv. M/s. Arputham Aruna & Co., AOR
Mr. Gopal Singh, AOR Ms. Vimla Sinha, Adv.
Mr. Rituraj Biswas, Adv.
Mr. Wills Mathews, Adv. Mr. Rabin Majumder, AOR
Mr. K.R. Sasiprabhu, AOR Mr. Gaurav Mitra, Adv. Mr. Biju P. Raman, Adv. Mr. Vishnu Sharma, Adv. Mr. Bhavuk Aggarwal, Adv.
Mr. Edward Belho, AAG, Nagaland Ms. K. Enatoli Sema, Adv. Mr. Amit Kumar Singh, Adv. Mr. K. Luikang Michael, Adv.
Mr. K.V. Jagdishvaran, Adv. Mrs. G. Indira, AOR
Mr. Jayesh Gaurav, Adv. Mr. Ratan Kumar Choudhuri, AOR
Mr. K.N. Madhusoodhanan, Adv. Ms. Nitya Madhusoodhanan, Adv. Mr. T.G.N. Nari, Adv.
Mr. Mohit D. Rana, Adv. Ms. Monisha Handa, Adv. Mr. Bhagirath N. Patel, Adv.
Mr. Pardeep Gupta, Adv. Mrs. Mansi Gupta, Adv. Mr. Moazzam Ali, Adv. Mr. Wazer Singh Malik, Adv. Dr. Mrs. Vipin Gupta, AOR Mr. Anish Kumar Gupta, Adv.
Mr. B.V. Gadnis, Adv. Mr. V. Gadnis, Adv. Mr. Harish Pandey, Adv.
Mr. K.R. Sasiprabhu, AOR Mr. S. Sharma, Adv. Mr. Biju P. Raman, adv. Mr. Vishnu Sharma, Adv.
Mr. Soumitra G. Chaudhuri, Adv. Mr. Chanchal Kumar Ganguli, AOR
Mr. Karan Bharihoke, Adv.
Mr. K.V. Vijayakumar, AOR Ms. Maitreyee Mishra, Adv.
Mr. Tapesh Kumar Singh, Adv. Mr. Aditya Pratap Singh, Adv. Mr. Mohd. Waquas, Adv. Mr. P.K. Singh, Adv.
Mr. S. Udaya Kumar Sagar, AOR Mr. Mrityunjai Singh, Adv.
Mr. Ajay Bansal, Adv. Mr. Gaurav Yadava, Adv.
Mr. Amit Sharma, AOR Mr. Dipesh Sinha, Adv. Ms. Ayiala Imti, Adv.
Mr. M. Shoeb Alam, AOR Ms. Fauzia Shakil, Adv. Mr. Ujjwal Singh, Adv. Mr. Mojahid Karim Khan, Adv. Mr. Shiv Mangal Sharma, AAG, Rajasthan Mr. Lalitendu Mohapatra, Adv. Mr. Shrey Kapoor, Adv. Ms. Ruchi Kohli, AOR
Mr. Leishangthem Roshmani Kh., AOR Ms. Maibam Babina, Adv.
Mr. Kuldeep S. Parihar, Adv. Mr. H.S. Parihar, AOR
Mr. Anil Grover, AAG, Haryana Mr. Satish Kumar, Adv. Ms. Noopur Singhal, Adv. Mr. Sanjay Kr. Visen, AOR
Mr. J.S. Attri, Sr. Adv. Mr. Varinder Kumar Sharma, Adv. Mr. Chandra Nand Jha, Adv.
Mr. Sanjay Kapur, AOR Ms. Mansi Kapur, Adv. Ms. Megha Karnwal, Adv. Ms. Shubhra Kapur, Adv.
Mr. Abhinav Mukerji, Adv. Mrs. Bihu Sharma, Adv. Ms. Purnima Krishna, Adv. Mr. Siddharth Garg, Adv.
Mr. V.G. Pragasam, AOR/AAG, Puducherry Mr. S. Prabu Ramasubramani, Adv. Mr. S. Manuraj, Adv.
Mr. Varinder Kumar Sharma, AOR Mr. Sanjeev Kumar, Adv. Ms. Parul Sharma, Adv.
Mr. Sajan Poovayya, Sr. Adv. Mr. Priyadarshi Banerjee, Adv. Mr. Pratibhanu S.K., Adv. Mr. Saransh Kumar, Adv. Mr. Saransh Jain, Adv. Mr. Meka Venkatarama Krishna, Adv.
Mr. R. Sudhinder, Adv. Mr. Ashok Kumar, Adv. Ms. Amrita Sarkar, Adv.
Mr. Arvind Datar, Sr. Adv. Mr. Nipun Saxena, Adv. Ms. Pallavi Pratap, AOR
M/s. Lawyer S Knit & Co, AOR M/s. Meharia & Company, AOR Mr. E.C. Agrawala, AOR Mr. Milind Kumar, AOR Ms. Aishwarya Bhati, AOR Mr. Dinkar Kalra, AOR
Ms. Rashmi Singhania, AOR
Mr. Guntur Prabhakar, AOR
Mr. Tapesh Kumar Singh, AOR
Ms. Savita Singh, AOR
Mr. Jayant Mohan, AOR
Mr. Nishant Ramakantrao Katneshwarkar, AOR
Mr. Ranjan Mukherjee, AOR
Mr. T.G. Narayanan Nair, AOR
Mr. Jagjit Singh Chhabra, AOR
Mr. Mishra Saurabh, AOR
Mr. Manish Vashishtha, AOR
Mr. Manoj K. Mishra, AOR
M/s. Arputham Aruna And Co, AOR
Mr. Varinder Kumar Sharma, AOR
M/s. Corporate Law Group, AOR
Mr. Garvesh Kabra, AOR
Mr. Harish Pandey, AOR
Mr. Ashok Mathur, AOR
Mrs. Anil Katiyar, AOR
Mr. Anip Sachthey, AOR
Ms. Anitha Shenoy, AOR
Intervenor-in-person, AOR
Applicant-in-person, AOR
Mr. Jogy Scaria, AOR
M/s. Khaitan & Co., AOR
Mr. Harsh Kaushik, AOR
Mrs. Pragya Baghel, AOR
Hon'ble Dr. Justice D.Y. Chandrachud pronounced the order of the Bench comprising Hon'ble the Chief Justice,
Hon'ble Mr. Justice A.K. Sikri, Hon'ble Mr. Justice A.M. Khanwilkar, His Lordship and Hon'ble Mr. Justice Ashok
Bhushan.
In terms of the signed reportable order, certain
directions are issued. The arrangement as per the directions issued shall continue to operate pending the disposal of the
proceedings before the Constitution Bench.
Let the entire batch of connected cases be listed for
final hearing on 17.1.2018.
(Deepak Guglani) (H.S. Parasher)
Court Master Assistant Registrar
(Signed reportable order is placed on the file)