Aadhaar legislation will be declared constitutional in the Supreme Court, says Arun Jaitley
The finance minister said the court had ruled that reasonable restrictions could be imposed on the right to privacy during its verdict on August 24.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Wednesday said that the Aadhaar legislation will stand the test of constitutionality in the Supreme Court. “...Even while upholding the right to privacy under Article 21 of the Indian Constitution, the Supreme Court said that reasonable restrictions could be imposed on this right,” Jaitley said while addressing a conclave in New Delhi on financial inclusion, reported The Economic Times.
Jaitley claimed that the Aadhaar was only an “evolving idea” when the United Progressive Alliance was in power. “The full potential of Aadhaar had not been realised at the time,” he said. “There was no legislation, there was a draft law.”
Jan Dhan Yojana
The finance minister said that the number of zero-balance accounts in the country had reduced from 77% to 20% after the introduction of the Jan Dhan Yojana. He said that 30 crore households opened bank accounts in the last three years. Jaitley claimed that 99.99% of households now have at least one bank account, reported PTI.