What’s the news: Stating that the mandatory requirement of Aadhaar details to access Grievance Appellate Committees (GAC) is a violation of the Supreme Court’s Puttaswamy judgement, the SFLC.in filed a representation to the Indian government on March 2, 2023. “We request you to kindly revisit the matter urgently, and allow appellants/prospective appellants to establish their identities through alternative means (such as alternative Government issued identification), in keeping with the Supreme Court’s direction,” wrote the SFLC in their request. What is the GAC? On January 27, 2023, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) notified three GACs as platforms for users to appeal decisions issued by Grievance Officers of intermediaries. The GACs meant to start from March 1 faced objections from multiple stakeholders, including MediaNama, because of the body’s potential to give an additional level of control on platform content regulation by the government. Why it matters: Be it a GAC or a self-regulatory body of the platform, the body is supposed to enable all users to voice their grievances regarding the Grievance Officer's decisions. However, the mandatory requirement of Aadhaar now excludes those who either can’t or don’t want to share their Aadhaar. As pointed out by the SFLC.in, this “widens the net of Aadhaar beyond its intended use and makes access to rights contingent on possession of Aadhaar.” This also goes against the apex court's direction in the Puttaswamy judgement. Issues with the Aadhaar mandate: According to the SFLC.in, mandating Aadhaar details without the option of providing alternative…
