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The Centre government told the Supreme Court that it will continue with Unique Identification (UID) or Aadhaar card scheme for its multiple benefit to public. The Narendra Modi government made it clear that UID scheme is "voluntary" and not mandatory. The apex court had asked the Narendra Modi government to appraise whether it would like to continue with the scheme.

"There is a strong case for the continuation of the UID scheme in view of the widespread use and the benefits being provided to the Aadhaar enrollees," the government said in a joint affidavit filed by the finance ministry, Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) and other authorities in response to the court's query.

"The enrollment to the UID scheme is purely on a voluntary basis and is not mandatory upon any person to enroll with UID scheme and consequently part with their biometric information," the government added. “As on March 31, 2015 a cumulative expenditure of Rs5,980.62 crore and over 1,000 crore on IT infrastructure has been incurred under the scheme."

"Over 80.46 crore Aadhaar numbers have been generated, 16.25 crore bank accounts have been linked to it enabling the public to get the direct benefit transfer (DBT), over 37 crore LPG subsidy transfer transactions amounting to total of over Rs11,500 crore and a total of 61.04 lakh payment transactions have been done through DBT across the country for 34 schemes amounting to Rs681.14 crore," as stated in the affidavit while explaining the multiple benefits of the scheme.

By Premji