SC decision on Aadhaar: This is what activist and entrepreneurs say

Bengaluru, Sep 26: The Supreme Court, in a landmark verdict, on Wednesday clearly delineated where Aadhaar linking can be made mandatory and where it can not be. The court, while upholding the constitutional validity of Aadhaar, ruled that there is no need to link Aadhaar with bank accounts and mobile phones.

The decision was welcomed by some and some think it's not fair.

Maya Prakash, who runs business in Bengaluru's KR Market, said, "My personal account is linked Aadhaar to get subsidies from the government. As per the order, even its not mandatory to link it to bank accounts, it doesn't make much difference to me. Anyways, PAN is already linked to Aadhaar.

Devidas Tuljapurkar, Joint Secretary, All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA), said, "As per the judgment for subsidy and aid Aaadhar is compulsory. While a section of the society who are not availing subsidy from the government do not link Aadhaar to bank accounts, they can maintain their secrecy." He was concerned that transaction in big amounts cannot be traced.

Rakesh Shukla, Bengaluru based techie, welcomed the SC decision for not making linking of Aadhaar to bank accounts. He said, "The original idea was to transfer government subsidy. Between old and present the purpose of the Aadhaar was changed from voluntary to mandatory. I felt I was forced to link Aadhaar to get services from private bodies and also I was never been beneficiary of government subsidy. Why should be I forced to do that?". "If SC says it is not mandatory, this is how it should be," he added.

Elan Kulandavelu, "It is a fair and balanced judgment because SC saying that there is no legal backing to link Aadhaar to bank accounts."