New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday sought the assistance of Attorney General K.K. Venugopal on a PIL challenging the alleged move by Aadhaar authorities to engage the services of a private agency to monitor activities of citizens on the social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Google Plus.
The petition filed by Trinamul Congress MLA from West Bengal Mahua Moitra has urged the court to quash the impugned “Request for Proposal” issued on July 18, as being violative of Articles 14 (equality), 19(1)(a)(freedom of speech) and 21(life, liberty and privacy) of the
Constitution.
A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra, A.M. Khanwilkar and D.Y. Chandrachud agreed to examine the issue after senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for the petitioner, said that the matter was serious as it involved the fundamental right of privacy, which is sought to be infringed upon by the Unique Identification Development Authority of India (UIDAI).
The bench refrained from issuing any formal notice to Centre and UIDAI. According to the petition, the RPF proposes to appoint a private agency to act as Social Media Agency for the Aadhaar authorities.
