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Government, OMCs send petitions to alter Aadhaar ruling-Nitin Sethi
-The Hindu


"Only subsidy and not service has been made conditional on providing the Aadhaar number"

The Supreme Court order on Aadhaar is expected to provide relief to more than 24 lakh people in 20 districts who would have got locked out of access to subsidised LPG gas cylinders, for not having valid UID cards that are linked to banks.

The court in its interim order had said that no one should be denied benefits of a government scheme for lack of Aadhaar cards.

The government and Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) sent petitions asking for relief from the interim orders, but the Supreme Court refused to alter the interim ruling, instead setting an early date of October 22 for the final hearing.

OMCs argument

Before the court, the OMCs put on record through their plea that the scheme to transfer the subsidy as cash against the LPG cylinders had been launched in 20 districts in June 2013. The second phase in another 34 districts was planned for September and in another 44 districts for October.

They also informed the court that the policy was to cut off subsidy to those consumers who had not got their Aadhaar cards linked to the bank accounts and LPG connections. The cut off would take place after a three month grace period. The cut off date for the 20 districts officially began in the beginning of September.

The OMCs then admitted that only 60 per cent of the consumers had got their Aadhaar numbers linked to both banks and LPG distributors. The plea said, "The balance may enrol themselves in due course, when theybecome eligible to receive the subsidy for balance entitlement." They said there was a possibility that these were all cases of fake or duplicate LPG connections, in which case they may never enrol.

Out of the 50.88 lakh cards that were checked for duplication, the authorities found 45,000 having multiple connections, the oil companies told the court.

The application by the Unique Identification Authority of India is carefully worded to couch this concern. "There is no disruption of service (supply of LPG at market price) to consumers who do not provide Aadhaar, as only subsidy and not service has been made conditional on providing the Aadhaar number," the application before the court reads.

Though the OMCs talk of 40 per cent of the consumers in the first phase still not being linked to receive the cash subsidy, the authority's application reads, "Consistent with the resolution of the government that there is no undue hardship during the makeover to Aadhaar enabled systems, the scheme is being introduced in a staggered manner in districts with a high proliferation of Aadhaar."

The Union Cabinet note for the National Identification Authority of India Bill, finalised some days before the application before the court, reveals more. It said till August end, 49.42 lakh consumers had got their subsidy paid as cash against the LPG cylinders out of the total of 73.66 lakh consumers holding connections.

Self-contradictory cabinet bill

The Cabinet note for the bill is also self-contradictory in parts. In one part, it talks of only making the UID mandatory for public benefits when the UIDAI programme is fully rolled out and Aadhaar numbers are issued to all residents. But for the cash against the LPG scheme, the government has already pushed to make it mandatory. In another part of the note, the government states that the entire investment in the UID scheme would become ‘infructuous' if Aadhaar is not made compulsory for government schemes once it's fully rolled out.

The OMCs, again running against the government's logic of making Aadhaar mandatory only when fully rolled out, have pleaded before the court that not permitting the authorities to implement the cash subsidy for LPG scheme in its present shape would cause immense problems and cause "serious doubts and confusion and uncertainty in the minds of several crores of residents in India who have already enrolled for Aadhaar, regarding the validity and usefulness of Aadhaar."