Aadhar Bill may be introduced as 'money bill' to avoid RS opposition

The Aadhaar (Delivery of Benefits, Grants and Services) Bill, 2016 proposed by FM Arun Jaitley is all set for the Aadhaar number mandatory for availing the benefits of the grant of any government scheme, against resolutions SC last year They make voluntary.

The bill, sources revealed, have already "seen" by the Attorney General, who "has opined that it can be introduced as a cash account" in parliament where dominated opposition Rajya Sabha have no power to forcing any changes in legislation.

The proposed legislation will move along with a motion to withdraw the National Identity Authority of India (NIDAI) 2010 which was presented by the previous UPA government to provide legal support for the UIDAI.

The bill, proposed by Jaitley on Monday during the presentation of the Union budget, is set to be introduced in Parliament shortly.

The main features of the bill, reviewed by ET, makes "test Aadhaar number and Aadhar authentication as a condition for a benefit, subsidy, etc. funded by the Consolidated Fund of India" which was not the case UPA legislation.

This feature of the proposed legislation, however, seemed to go against the two resolutions of the SC.

"The production of an Aadhaar card will not be a condition for any benefits otherwise due to a citizen," the SC has ruled in an interim order in August last year, the exemption of use for the public distribution system (PDS ) and LPG distribution.

The Court reiterated its stance again in October 2015 when the central government tried to grant to the voluntary use of Aadhaar in other government programs awaiting a final verdict on Aadhaar.

"We will also make clear that the system Aadhaar card is completely voluntary and can not be obligatory until the matter is finally decided by this Court in one way or another," SC had ordered in October last year, while allowing the government to allow use of Aadhar in schemes like MGNREGA, EPFO, Jan Dhan Yojana PM and the National Social Assistance Programme.

While the Standing Committee of Finance headed by BJP leader and former FM Yashwant Sinha had trashed registration process of the UIDAI as something that "can have far-reaching consequences for national security," the bill proposed BJP government intends to comply with the decision to grant Aadhaar each "resident".

The BJP, in fact, also objected, saying that the granting of Aadhaar to "residents" can allow illegal Bangladeshis to exploit and later the misuse of its purposes.

However, the salient features suggest that the definition of resident has been "modified" to include "a person who is resident in India for the purposes of section 6 (1) of the Law on income tax." However, it did not indicate how it will address the concerns of the previous BJP in terms of its use by illegal immigrants residing in the country for long.

The proposed legislation, to a significant extent, is to protect the electronic information obtained by the UIDAI evil intended use biometric data specify that "specifically considered to be sensitive personal information such act." It will also define the "core biometric information" and will insist "ban on the sharing of biometric information of the core."

The bill proposed by Jaitley, in fact, provide legal support for the UIDAI that establishes the creation of the single Authroity identification of India consisting of "a President (a partial or full tooth time) and two members (time partial) ", which it was also envisaged in the bill UPA.

On the lines of the UPA bill, the bill provides for an oversight committee to monitor the disclosure of information under the Act.