This is a record of the proceedings in the Supreme Court bench hearings on the Constitutional validity of Aadhaar. You may read the previous days here: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3 Senior Advocate Shyam Divan began Day 4 of the Aadhaar hearings with a dissection of Section 59 of the Aadhaar Act. This section validates all the actions undertaken by the UIDAI in the pre-legislation era between 2009 and 2016. However, as Mr. Divan pointed out, the Section applies solely to the actions undertaken by the Union Government through subsidiary entities - private registrars and enrolment agencies appointed by the UIDAI to collect citizen data and issue Aadhaars cannot be protected under Section 59. To Justice Sikri's interjection that the central government's appointment of UIDAI validated its actions, Mr. Divan argued that the notification establishing the UIDAI might protect…
