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NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court verdict declaring privacy as a fundamental right will not put an end to Aadhaar since all the current usage of the unique identity number falls under the reasonable restrictions which have been outlined in the judgement. Aadhaar can continue to be linked with subsidy schemes since reasonable restrictions laid down by the Court include prevention of “dissipation of welfare benefits,” Ajay Bhushan Pandey , CEO of the Unique Identification Authority of India ( UIDAI ) told ET.Adding that while another Supreme Court Bench which will hear the specific Aadhaar matter will take a final call on the issue, he said that all the current use cases of Aadhaar fall under the reasonable restrictions category. While the linkage with bank account and PAN card can prevent crimes such as money laundering and impersonation etc and will be covered under restrictions ‘prevention of crime’, projects such as Aadhaar Pay could fall under ‘innovation’ as outlined by the judgement.“The judgement is very good, this will strengthen Aadhaar. Today, we have certain privacy protection measures, but the situation may change with the change in the technology when the new usage starts coming, with the judgement the contours have been defined. And therefore every use of Aadhaar in the future will have to be within that boundary.” He added that the judgement has done a lot of balancing.The historic judgement given by the nine member Supreme Court bench has said that privacy is a fundamental right, but it is not absolute and is subject to certain reasonable restrictions. “The Court has given examples of legitimate state interests such as national security, preventing crime, encouraging innovation and spread of knowledge, and preventing the dissipation of welfare benefits. The current uses of Aadhaar fall in this category,” said Pandey.He added that use of Aadhaar in subsidy schemes are for prevention of dissipation of social welfare benefits. Linkage of Aadhaar with income tax returns, bank accounts and other things such as SIM cards etc is for ensuring fraud, impersonation, black money, tax evasion , do not take place. He said use of Aadhaar in digital payments through BHIM Aadhaar is an example of innovation.Justice AM Sapre, in the judgement said that privacy is not an absolute right, it is subject to certain reasonable restrictions which the state is entitled to impose on the basis of social, moral and compelling public interest in accordance with the law. Pandey said that when the government is using this Aadhaar for bank account seeding or for PAN card, it is a case of compelling public interest of curbing tax evasion, Benami accounts , and money laundering.He added that the restrictions on fundamental right to privacy must be just, reasonable and fair and should be for the larger good of the society and empowerment of people. “Aadhaar Act is based on the premise that privacy is a fundamental right, and it has therefore a full chapter on privacy protection which has detailed provisions on how privacy of those who are using Aadhaar, is protected. In any case, this matter will be heard by the bench of the Supreme Court and final judgement will come at that time,” said Pandey.