SC seeks response from Centre, UIDAI on plea against new Aadhaar ordinance

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday sought a response from the Centre on a plea challenging the provisions of the Aadhaar and Other Laws (Amendment) Ordinance 2019.

A bench headed by Justice S A Bobde also issued notice to the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) seeking its response on the plea which has also challenged the Aadhaar (Pricing of Aadhaar Authentication Services) Regulations, 2019.

The petitioner alleged in his plea that the 2019 ordinance and regulations violates the fundamental rights guaranteed under the Constitution. "The impugned ordinance creates a backdoor to permit private parties to access the Aadhaar ecosystem, thus enabling state and private surveillance of citizens and the impugned regulations permit the commercial exploitation of personal and sensitive information which has been collected and stored for state purposes only," the PIL claimed.