The Delhi High Court on Friday sought the Centre’s response to a petition challenging the constitutional validity of the recent Aadhaar Ordinance, reports LiveLaw. It gave the government until July 9 to respond. The Supreme Court had earlier this month refused to entertain the petition, which was filed in March by lawyer Reepak Kansal. The apex court had asked him to first approach a high court with his plea. Kansal's petition said that the Centre promulgated and approved the Aadhaar and Others Laws (Amendment) Ordinance, 2019 in a hurry in order to overturn the Supreme Court’s Constitutional bench verdict on Aadhaar. Terming it undemocratic and unconstitutional, he said the ordinance would authorize private companies to use, sell and profit from people’s personal data. Last September, the Supreme Court ruled that Aadhaar was constitutionally valid but specified a host of services for which it could not be made mandatory. It also struck down Section 57 which allowed private usage of Aadhaar. It deemed Aadhaar necessary for a PAN card, income tax returns, and availing welfare schemes and subsidies from the government, but said it could not be made mandatory for such things as opening a bank account, buying a SIM card, school admissions, and appearing for the CBSE, UGC and NEET examinations. However, in February, the Union Cabinet approved the promulgation of the Aadhaar ordinance, which would allow private companies to use Aadhaar for authentication and verification — though the government claimed it would on the contrary protect people’s Aadhaar data…
