The Supreme Court, on Thursday held the Hearings for in the Aadhar albeit Privacy Case, where the Additional Solicitor General, Mr. Tushar Mehta made his submissions on behalf of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI).

The UIDAI is the nodal Agency, which is responsible for the implementation of the Aadhar scheme. The learned Counsel argued that “Privacy is non-negotiable and confidentiality is also non-negotiable under the Aadhaar Act”.

These submissions were made in response to an issue related to the sharing of the personal data with the private players was raised by the Nine Judge Bench, after Mr. KK Venugopal, in the last hearing, had argued that citizens cannot claim informational privacy when the State asks for data for a legitimate purpose like Aadhaar,

“There may be a billion Aadhaar cardholders. I don’t want the State to pass on my personal information to some 2000 service providers who will send me WhatsApp messages offering cosmetics and air conditioners… that is our area of concern. Personal details turn into vital commercial information for service providers. Have you got a robust protection mechanism?” Justice Chandrachud asked.

Mr. KK Venugopal had earlier submitted that the kind of data taken by the government in the form of personal details for passport and voter ID verification and clearance does not and will not violate an individual’s privacy. For supporting his contentions, various International Precedents were also cited.

He had further mentioned the system of protection that surrounded the data that is submitted for the Aadhar Card.

Justice Rohinton F. Nariman observed that the government had dedicated an entire chapter in the 2016 Act for protection of privacy and security and therefore raised his concern as to the statutory recognition of privacy as a fundamental right.