Janjivan Bureau
New Delhi : The Supreme court on Thursday relaxed its earlier order extending use of Aadhaar card on voluntary basis in social welfare scheme MNREGA, old age pension scheme, provident fund and Prime Minister’s Jan Dhan Yojana.
The apex court constitution bench headed by Chief Justice HL Dattu modified the order on a batch of applications by the central government and its various agencies seeking modification of August 11 order by which the use of Aadhaar card was limited for getting foodgrain and kerosene under PDS and for LPG.
Earlier this month, the Centre suffered a setback after the Supreme Court declined it to allow voluntary use of Aadhaar number for welfare schemes and projects other than the public distribution system (PDS) and LPG scheme.
A bench headed by Justice J Chelameswar said it had already referred petitions challenging the Aadhaar scheme to a constitution bench, which shall first determine if right to privacy was a constitutional right or not.