#DestroyTheAadhaar is the primary prayer of the Petitioners. That case has now been made before the final adjudicating body in the country. The fate of the only such project in any democracy that sought to fingerprint its entire population, hangs in the balance.
M.G.Devasahayam, Thomas Franco, Sam Rajappa, Nachiket Udupa etc. And those that helped enormously with material that formed sworn affidavits before the Court- Prof. Reetika Khera, Prof. Jean Dreze, @anumayhem , @samirkelekar , Dr. Rakesh Goyal, @iam_anandv, Dr. Yogesh Jain ..
...and many others.
Senior Advs and their teams (in batting order): Shyam Divan, @KapilSibal , Gopal Subramanium, @PChidambaram_IN , Arvind Datar, K.V. Vishwanathan, Anand Grover, Meenakshi Arora, C.U. Singh, @sanjayuvacha , P.V.Surendran, @jaynakothari@PrasanthTweets & Others.
A great team of absolutely relentless AORs that have expended every possible assistance in preparing the record before the Court - there is not one piece of relevant document that did not form part of the record in the Court. @nairvipin73 , @BhatiAishwarya & many others.
The final and the most special note of thanks, as no one would dispute, have to go to Usha Ramanathan who was instrumental in evolving the language and vocabulary for a legal and constitutional challenge to a new age problem such as this.
Does the Union Government have to direct the telecom service providers to delete biometric and Aadhaar details of their customers following the #Aadhaar judgment? A short thread.
1. We all know that the judgment had three separate judgments. One by majority of Sikri J writing for himself, CJI Misra and Khanwilkar J.
There was a minority judgment by Chandrachud J which was partly concurring with Sikri J
and another partly concurring judgment by Bhushan J
2. On the question of illegality and unconstitutionality of the telecom-Aadhaar linking exercise, all the five judges agreed and struck down the exercise and the 23rd March 2016 circular of the DoT as unconstitutional.
#Aadhaar Judgment continued
(Sorry the earlier thread no longer loads for me on twitter).
DYC J has penned a partial dissent.
DYC says this is a seminal case that poses questions on democracy, power and liberty and constitutionalism.
DYC J overrules earlier judgment on money bill whether or not speaker decision is subject to judicial review. Elaborate discussion of rule of law and judicial review. Sikri J agrees on this point.
However DYC J holds that Aadhaar cannot have been a money bill. Not even Section 7. Passing a Bill which is not a money bill as a money bill a subterfuge and a fraud on the constitution. This is a dissent from Sikri J view.
#Aadhaar judgment. Thread. Will be tweeting opinions as they are pronounced. Final conclusions based on majority will be clear only at the end of the thread.
Waiting for the Bench to assemble.
Bench has assembleed. Judgment is voluminous.
First judgment is by Justice Sikri. CJI and Khanwilkar J have concurred with him. DYC J and Ashok Bhushan J have written separate opinions.
Thread. The Delhi Govt yesterday pulled up by the Delhi HC for not implementing several mandatory provisions of the Food Security Act, letting thousands go hungry in the national capital.
The Government had no explanation whatsoever in completely defaulting on not only the statutory mandate of implementation of NFSA before July 2014, but also an order passed by the Court on 01.09.2017!
The Govt told the Court that their main concern was that the benefits meant for Delhiites should not be cornered by migrants! The Court rejected that contention as completely irrelevant for compliance and sought a plan of compliance within two weeks.
Too much noise over the weekend trying to suggest that the modern left has to be more accommodating of the right so that the right does not become more reactionary. Some thoughts/rants. 1/
It is only recently that the left has started reclaiming its mainstream space. It has started ignoring the don't-wake-up-your-neighbour type warnings. (IMHO, obviously) 2/
The reactionary right is not some fringe or a small minority or a vulnerable group that we should guard against further marginalization or condescension. They are the ones in power now. Almost everywhere in the world. They set the narrative. They are the mainstream. 3/
There is not one flaw in India's constitutional democracy that the present regime has not exposed or exploited:
1. Office of the Governor; 2. Judges appointments; 3. Appointments to other institutions and tribunals; 4. The virtual unassailability of the decisions of ...1/
...the speaker of assembly or Loksabha(Money Bill/ Disqualification for defection; not allowing the introduction of no confidence motion); 5. The office of VP and his powers over removal of judges; 6. Finance Commission 7. Post retirement posts.
Etc. Etc. 2/
These structural flaws are obviously pre-existing and we have had proofs of concept demonstrated to us before. What we are seeing now though is exploitation of each of those flaws at once with absolutely no sense of shame or apology. 3/