Contrary to what is being reported in multiple places, the Supreme Court of India did not say today that Aadhaar can be made mandatory for the government for services that aren't linked to welfare. Neither did they say that Aadhaar should be made mandatory for non-welfare schemes. In fact, there was no order from the Supreme Court. For example, this report in the Times of India says that the SC "...did add though that the government can't be stopped from making it compulsory to have one for things like opening bank accounts. " This, in The Hindu report says that the SC "said the government can press for Aadhaar card for income tax filings." This report in NDTV says that the SC "added that it cannot stop the government from linking the 12-digit identification number to the opening of bank accounts or filing of tax returns." Prasanna S, a lawyer with one of the parties, who was present in court during the hearings told MediaNama that "the status today is exactly how it was yesterday" and "the Court passed no orders today. This thing about benefit schemes and non benefit schemes, and whether it can be made mandatory for non benefit schemes etc was a conversation that the bench entered into with our senior counsel. Our senior counsel Shyam Divan read out the past order and clarified that, and then they moved back to the actual issue, about our application." The mentioning before the court today, according to Prasanna and the group Rethink…
