Plea in HC for linking property with Aadhaar; Centre, Delhi govt's response sought

The Delhi High Court Tuesday sought response from the Centre and the AAP government on a plea seeking to link movable and immovable property documents of citizens with their Aadhaar number to curb corruption, black money generation and 'benami' transactions.
A bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice C Hari Shankar issued notices to the Central and Delhi government on the petition and listed the matter for further hearing on October 15.

Petitioner advocate and BJP leader Ashwini Upadhyay said it is the duty of the state to take appropriate steps to curb corruption and seize 'benami' properties made by illegal means to give a strong message that the government is determined to fight against corruption and black money generation.

In a separate petition filed by him, the court directed the Election Commission to decide within eight weeks the representation given to it by Upadhyay in March, for taking steps to link voter ID with Aadhaar number to curtail bogus and duplicate voting in polls.

The court disposed of the plea in which he has also sought that EC be directed to take appropriate steps to implement 'Aadhaar based election voting system' to ensure maximum participation of citizens in polls and to curtail fake and fabricated votes.

Initially, the petition was filed before the apex court which had refused to entertain it and asked the petitioner to approach the EC.

In the plea to link property documents with Aadhaar, the petitioner, represented through senior advocate Vikas Singh, said, "If the government link property with Aadhaar, it will lead to an increment of 2 per cent in annual growth. It will clean out electoral process, which is dominated by black money and benami transaction and thrives on a cycle of large black investments... use of political strength to amass private wealth, all with disdain of the citizen."

The plea claimed that 'benami' transaction in high denomination currency is used in illegal activities -- terrorism, naxalism, separatism, gambling, money laundering and bribing.

"It also inflates the price of essential commodities as well as major assets like real estate and gold. These problems can be curbed up to great extent by linking movable-immovable properties with the owner's Aadhaar number," it alleged.

In the petition for linking voter ID with Aadhaar, the petitioner said "... It is pertinent to point out that once Aadhaar is created, mere linking of the same with Voter ID would not tantamount to infringement of any fundamental right guaranteed under the Constitution."

The plea said linking of Aadhaar with voter ID may not be a mandatory requirement and therefore, failure to do the linking would not deprive citizens of basic right of exercising his right to vote.

The proposed Aadhaar-based voting system involves fingerprint of the voter which is saved in the government's database with an individual's Aadhaar number, the petition said.