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Aadhaar not required for NEET, other all India exams, rules Supreme Court

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Aadhaar not required for NEET, other all India exams, rules Supreme Court

The Supreme Court on Wednesday, March 7 ruled that Aadhaar cards would not be mandatory students appearing in NEET 2018 and other all India exams.

Delivering the order, a five-judge Constitution bench, headed by Chief justice Dipak Misra and comprising Justices AK Sikri, AM Khanwilkar, DY Chandrachud and Ashok Bhushan, directed the CBSE to upload the information on their website.

The CJI, addressing the respondents, said that they need to follow the court’s interim order which said Aadhaar cannot be made mandatory.

Earlier, in the morning, the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) had told the apex court that it has not authorised CBSE to mandatorily take Aadhaar number of students to get themselves enrolled for appearing in NEET 2018 examination.

Attorney-General KK Venugopal had said he has instructions from UIDAI that like in Jammu and Kashmir, Meghalaya and Assam other identity proofs like passport, voter card and ration card can be used by the CBSE for enrolling the students in the examination.

The UIDAI’s remarks came on a plea challenging the decision of CBSE seeking Aadhaar number or Aadhaar enrolment number from students who are aspiring to take up the NEET 2018 examination.

The Gujarat High Court had dismissed the plea on February 27 and its order was challenged in the Supreme Court.

Senior counsel Arvind Datar, arguing for petitioners, said that the forced use of Aadhaar for availing of several services is amounting to almost coercion. He gave the example of a driving licence (Motor vehicles Act), where you will not be deprived of benefits accruing because you do not have a licence.

He made a clear point in this. He said: “If it wasn’t a money bill and had gone to the Rajya Sabha, Section 57 of the Aadhaar Act wouldn’t have been passed.”

[Section  57 says that the Act is “not to prevent use of Aadhaar number for other purposes under law. Nothing contained in this Act shall prevent the use of Aadhaar number for establishing the identity of an individual for any purpose, whether by the State or any body corporate or person, pursuant to any law, for the time being in force, or any contract to this effect…”]

Datar said: “Consent is said to be free without any coercion, but in the present scenario there’s a coercion; so much so that if your Aadhaar is not linked your account will be closed.”

He said: “To enroll or not to enroll is my wish. When I exercise this right, I do not exercise in reference to Sec.3 of the Aadhaar Act, but because of my right to privacy. Under rule of law, is it permissible to coerce at every stage? This is what your lordships must decide. Sec.8(2)(a) is rendered irrelevant now, because the consent part has been removed by authorities under this section and will be closed on this March 31,” he said.

[Sec.8(2)(a) of Aadhaar Act says: “unless otherwise provided in this Act, obtain the consent of an individual before collecting his identity information for the purposes of authentication in such manner as may be specified by regulations.”]

He said Aadhaar is a choice. “But if I don’t take Aadhaar, I cannot link it with PAN card which has been mandated. This will mean as if I never had a PAN card because it will cancel my PAN card. After Puttuswamy case, this is my decision with my privacy, on whether to take Aadhaar or not. Article 14,19  and 21 entitles me not to take Aadhaar.”

Datar pointed out various orders of the court. “Twenty nine applications were made for relaxing the orders of the court which prayed that Aadhaar must not be mandatory for filling of forms. It is voluntary,” he said.

He also said: “A total of 2,000 applicants could not fill forms for their exams in state of Gujarat, because they did not have Aadhaar.”

At this point that the CJI said that this writ was useless. Justice Misra said that the high court’s interim stay, saying Aadhaar cannot be made mandatory will have to be abided by.

Justice Chandrachud also made it clear that the interim order passed in October 2015 will stay till the time matter is disposed off.

Extension of deadline

One senior advocate also mentioned that the deadline for linking of documents to Aadhaar must also be extended beyond March 31.

Chidambaram submits

Senior advocate P Chidambaram, starting his submission, said that the Aadhaar bill has been passed as a money bill so as to bypass the Rajya Sabha. He pointed to Article 110 and he pointed out the difference between 117 (financial bill) and 110 (money bill). He said that a financial bill can be a bill which is related to provisions from a-f and others also but a money bill can only be related to provisions between a-f.

A money bill is a subset of financial bill which is a subset of a bill. He submits that nothing escapes in a guise of a money bill.

The matter continues.

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Swati Maliwal undergoes medical check-up, internal injuries on face

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AAP Rajya Sabha MP Swati Maliwal sustained internal injuries in her face after being reportedly assaulted by an aide to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, as per reports. Maliwal spent more than three hours on Friday at AIIMS, Delhi, having a medical examination.

Meanwhile, the Delhi Police has stepped up its hunt for Bibhav Kumar, Kejriwal’s assistant, one day after filing a formal complaint in relation to the incident. After a Delhi Police squad recorded Maliwal’s statement at her home, a FIR was filed.

The former head of the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) said in her complaint that Bibhav Kumar had punched, kicked, slapped, and beat her with a stick.

Earlier, on Thursday evening, Swati Maliwal underwent a medical check-up for about four hours. Along with Maliwal, a Delhi Police squad arrived at AIIMS at 11 p.m. and left at 3:15 a.m. Maliwal was accompanied by Vandana Singh, a member of the Delhi Commission for Women. There was a CT scan and an X-ray.

Swati Maliwal has claimed in her lawsuit that she was repeatedly struck on sensitive body parts and subjected to physical assault.

Delhi Police has stepped up its investigation into the matter in the interim.A team of police reached Bibhav Kumar’s house, but he was not found.

Approximately ten police teams are looking into the matter; four of the units are tracking Bibhav’s whereabouts. According to sources, Bibhav might be in Amritsar. Additionally, since the INDIA bloc is planned to have a rally in Mahrashtra, police believe Bibhav may be there.

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PM Modi slams Congress, SP for stance on CAA, says nobody can remove

PM Modi today addressed a rally Lalganj, Azamgarh, Uttar Pradesh, where he said nobody can remove CAA

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday, May 16, attacked the opposition for allegedly trying to spark violence by disseminating false information over the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). He continued by saying that citizenship under the CAA is now being granted by the country.

The prime minister claimed no one can do it, despite the INDI alliance members claims that they will remove CAA. Get real-time updates about the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

PM Modi said, on the CAA issue, political parties like Congress and Samajwadi Party propagate false information. They made every effort to ignite riots and burn the entire nation, including UP, the PM added. Members of this INDI alliance still maintain that Modi introduced the CAA and that it will be removed the day he leaves the office.

Challenging the opposition, PM said, Desh mein koi maai ka laal paida hua hai jo CAA hata sake? (has anyone been born in this country who has the ability to repeal the CAA?) No one is able to remove CAA, he said. Addressing the rally in Lalganj, Azamgarh, Uttar Pradesh, PM Modi said, they tried to do votebank politics under the guise of fake secularism, and they made Hindus and Muslims fight against each other.

Under the CAA, the process of giving citizenship certificate to refugees has already begun, the PM added. These are the individuals who have long been residents of the county as refugees and who suffered from the country’s religiously motivated division, PM Modi continued.

Additionally, PM Modi alleged that the Congress was ignoring these refugees.

Under the mask of CAA, the Congress and the SP attempted to spread misinformation. They tried to create disturbances in Uttar Pradesh and all across the country, he claimed.

PM Modi added that the enthusiasm displayed by Srinagar voters during the polls is evidence that nobody can reinstate Article 370 and engage in vote-bank politics.

Congress and Samajwadi Party wanted to split the national budget and give 15% to minorities, PM Modi said.

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Swati Maliwal case: Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal refuses to answer, Akhilesh Yadav says other issues are more important

Rajya Sabha MP Swati Maliwal was assaulted by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s Personal Secretary Bibhav Kumar

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Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal refused to comment about AAP Rajya Sabha MP Swati Maliwal’s assault case during a joint press conference with Akhilesh Yadav in Lucknow today. On Monday, May 13, Rajya Sabha MP Swati Maliwal allegedly suffered an assault by Kejriwal’s personal secretary Bibhav Kumar.

Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav, who was attending the press conference along with AAP leader Sanjay Singh and Kejriwal, said there are other issues that are more important than this.

Kejriwal, who was seated between Akhilesh Yadav and Sanjay Singh, continued to avoid questions on the assault case. Sanjay Singh then asked about Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s silence on several topics, including the ethnic violence in Manipur.

When asked about the Swati Maliwal situation, AAP MP Sanjay Singh took a defensive posture throughout the press conference. He said that he had already given the required reaction to the issue and emphasized that the situation should not be used for political advantage.

Singh restated that the AAP operates as a unified entity. During the summit, he also expressed worries on the situation in Manipur.

The AAP MP said, after witnessing what occurred in Manipur, the entire nation was in pain, yet PM Modi remained silent on the matter. Thousands of women were raped by Prajwal Revanna, while PM Modi was pleading for Prajwal Revanna’s support. The officials physically assaulted DCW chief Swati Maliwal during our wrestlers’ protest at Jantar Mantar. PM Modi said nothing about these problems. Our family, AAP, has made a very clear statement. All these points he raised should have answers from the BJP and PM Modi. On Swati Maliwal’s issue, politics should not be engaged, Sanjay Singh added.

Meanwhile, days after the party threatened to take strict action against him, Bibhav Kumar was seen earlier on Wednesday night at the Lucknow airport with Sanjay Singh and the AAP national convener.

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