SC says Pension not a subsidy but a right. How can you link Aadhaar to it?

The Supreme Court on 21.03.2018 asked the Centre about its decision to link Aadhaar with pensions, reasoning that it is not a subsidy but a right of a person for the years of service rendered by the person to the government in the discharge of official duties. The bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A. K. Sikri, A. M. Khanwilkar, D. Y. Chandrachud and Ashok Bhushan while referring to the argument of petitioners that many pensioners have been denied their only subsistence in old age due to technical and physical reasons and asked Attorney General K. K. Venugopal whether the Centre was going to deny pension, a rightful entitlement, just for want of Aadhaar. However, Venugopal replied that Aadhaar has been influential in eliminating many fraudulent pensioners drawing post-retirement benefits for years. Apart from this, Justice Sikri stated, “ Pension is an entitlement and not a benefit under the social welfare schemes. How is it included under Section- 7 of the Aadhaar Act? A pension is a return of services rendered for the government. Further, he added that there are many pensioners who live with their children who are settled abroad. Can these pensioners be told that they would not be granted pension unless they have an Aadhaar card?” Moreover, Justice Chandrachud added, “ There is another category of persons who suffer from Alzheimer's disease and may have serious dementia. There are those old persons whose biometrics do not match with the Aadhaar data. Where do they go? The pension is a rightful entitlement and not a bounty given by the state.” He said there are many instances where biometrics of manual laborers do not match, wherein remote areas authentication fails because of lack of electricity or network connectivity, should the beneficiary be denied financial benefits? “ We will appreciate if the government can come and tell us upfront that there is a serious issue of financial exclusion. The cabinet secretariat had flagged this issue. The government must explain what steps are taken to eliminate the financial exclusion of legitimate beneficiaries.” In his reply, the AG said that the pension has a subsidy component and that Aadhaar would authenticate the actual pensioner numbers. “ We will know who actual beneficiaries are. If in future it is required to amend the Aadhaar law, we will do that. But, for this reason, the whole project need not be condemned.” Moreover, referring to a series of questions asked by the bench, the AG said no such person or class of persons have come before the court alleging that they have been denied pension because of want of Aadhaar or their physical biometrics not matching with Aadhaar data. “ Unless they come and make an issue, we will really be groping in dark to find a solution to a hypothetical problem,” he added.