The Supreme Court, in a landmark judgment, has upheld the constitutional validity of Aadhaar but private companies can no longer insist on it for their services.

Highlights:

• Mandatory to access social welfare services- PAN linkage in IT returns & social welfare services;
• Not mandatory for opening bank accounts, mobile connections, school admissions and examinations [NEET, CBSE etc], etc;
• Provisions struck down- S. 57 [Mandate of Aadhaar-based authentication by private entities] & S. 33(2) [Disclosure of information in interest of national security];
• Provisions read down- S. 33(1) [disclosure of information on the order of Court] & S. 47 [Cognizance of offence only on a complaint by UIDAI]

For more: https://www.supremecourtofindia.nic.in/supremecourt/2012/35071/35071_2012_Judgement_26-Sep-2018.pdf