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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.

India News

SIT issues lookout notice for Prajwal Revanna in sex video case

A police officer, who is part of the SIT, confirmed to the media that a lookout circular has been issued at all the immigration points to detain Prajwal Revanna, said to be in Germany, as soon as he enters the country.

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The Special Investigation Team (SIT), probing the sex tapes case involving JD(S) Lok Sabha candidate Prajwal Revanna, on Thursday issued a lookout notice against him. The notice was issued at all immigration points all over the world. The development comes as Revanna allegedly fled to Frankfurt, Germany on April 26, as a huge cache of explicit videos and photographs showing him indulging in the sexual abuse of several women went viral on social media platforms.

Prajwal Revanna is the grandson of former prime minister and JD(S) patriarch HD Deve Gowda and son of former minister HD Revanna, is seeking re-election from Hassan on the JD(S) ticket. The JD(S) MP faces sexual assault charges and has sought 7 days to appear before the Special Investigation Team probing the matter.

Prajwal Revanna and his father, DD Revanna have been issued notices to appear before the SIT for questioning. The Hassan MP informed the SIT team that he is currently outside Bengaluru. A case has been registered against both HD Revanna and his son Prajwal Revanna at Holenarasipura based on a complaint lodged by their former cook and relative for sexually harassing her.

She alleged that Prajwal Revanna made video calls to her daughter and spoke in an objectionable manner, which forced her to block his phone number. The FIR was referred to the SIT, led by BK Singh, Additional Director-General of Police, Criminal Investigation Department, formed to probe the alleged sex scandal involving Prajwal Revanna, after many explicit videos were circulated on social media.

The National Commission for Women (NCW) has demanded a comprehensive report within 3 days from the Karnataka Police regarding allegations of sexual misconduct against Prajwal Revanna. The NCW expressed grave concern over the circulation of a number of obscene videos on social media, which showed Prajwal Revanna sexually assaulting number of women.

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PM Modi takes a dig at Rahul Gandhi, says Pakistan wants him as Prime Minister

PM Modi said Pakistan is eager to make the prince the Prime Minister and everyone knows that the Congress is a fan of Pakistan. The prime minister further added that the partnership between Pakistan and Congress has now been completely exposed.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi took a veiled dig at Rahul Gandhi on Thursday. He was addressing an election rally in Gujarat’s Anand where PM Modi said, Congress is dying here and Pakistanis are crying. He further added that Pakistani leaders want to make shehzada of Congress the prime minister of India.

He said everyone should look at the coincidence that today the Congress is getting weak in India and Pakistani leaders at the same time are praying for the grand old party. PM Modi said Pakistan is eager to make the prince the Prime Minister and everyone knows that the Congress is a fan of Pakistan. The prime minister further added that the partnership between Pakistan and Congress has now been completely exposed.

A few days earlier Pakistani leader Chaudhary Fawad Hussain had shared a video on X which featured Rahul Gandhi, in which the Congress leader is seen targetting the BJP and PM Modi. In the video shared by the former Pakistan minister, rahul Gandhi can be seen attacking the BJP government over the invitees at Ram Mandir’s Pran Pratishtha ceremony.

The edited video shows Rahul Gandhi speaking about the Ram Mandir’s inauguration and charging the BJP government of sidelining the interests of the poor and youth.  PM Modi further added at the Anand rally that Congress Shahzade is dancing around with the Constitution on their foreheads. But for 75 years, this did not apply to all parts of Hindustan. The Constitution was not applicable in Kashmir, where Article 370 was like a wall that the BJP government had demolished.

The Prime Minister said it is his guarantee that he will work 24×7 to make India a developed country by 2047. He pointed out that in the last 10 years, the BJP government has given tap water connections to 14 crore houses, while the Congress gave just 3 crore houses in 60 years.

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Farooq Abdullah accuses PM Modi of trying to divide the country over religion

Faroukh Abdullah reacted to PM Modi’s remark that the Congress will redistribute people’s money and property to Muslims if voted to power and said Muslims respect all religions. He said that they are Muslims and Allah has told them to respect other religions. He further added that a Muslim cannot snatch anyone’s right.

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Farooq Abdullah, Jammu and Kashmir’s National Conference President said on Wednesday that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was trying to divide the country over religion. He also said that those who will vote for them must prepare for hell. Farooq Abdullah said Muslims cannot snatch away the rights of others.

Farooq Abdullah also called Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government a threat to the survival of the country. Omar Abdullah, former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister cautioned the people not to divide this country on the basis of religion, otherwise a storm will unleash making the survival of the nation difficult. He said it is better to talk about uniting the country, instead of dividing its people.

He was addressing an election rally in Thanamandi area of the Rajouri district in Jammu and Kashmir. The Anantnag parliamentary constituency will go for elections on May 25. Faroukh Abdullah reacted to PM Modi’s remark that the Congress will redistribute people’s money and property to Muslims if voted to power and said Muslims respect all religions. He said that they are Muslims and Allah has told them to respect other religions. He further added that a Muslim cannot snatch anyone’s right.

He remembered an incident when former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi once stopped his car in Pulwama and assured a poor Hindu woman that he would give her a mangalsutra as she could not afford it. Farooq Abdullah said those who were against the INDIA bloc are against the nation.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had earlier sparked a controversy last month as he commented that the Congress would take away the hard-earned money of the masses and distribute them among infiltrators and those with many children.  Speaking at a rally today, the Prime Minister took a jibe at the Congress and said the governments in the past were not able to implement the Indian Constitution in Jammu and Kashmir. He was referring to the revocation of Article 370.

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