No denial of benefit,service for want of Aadhaar card: SC

The court order came amid opposition by Solicitor General Mohan Parasaran and Additional Solicitor General L Nageswara Rao who maintained that no interim order was required since Aadhaar was not a proof of an individual’s citizenship.

The two law officers also asserted that registration for Aadhaar was purely voluntary and that no person was being given more than one card.

“So will you give it to an illegal migrant too? You cannot give it to an illegal migrant. Do you verify the details before you issue an Aadhaar card to a person? Don’t you verify whether the person is an Indian or not? We should clarify that Aadhaar card cannot be issued to an illegal migrant. The card has its own advantages,” said the Bench.

Arguing for the PIL petitioner,senior counsel Anil Divan had pointed out that although the government claimed that Aadhaar was voluntary,various states had embarked upon making it compulsory for a range of formalities,including marriage registration,disbursal of salaries and provident fund among other public services.

The court was also informed that even the Bombay High Court Registrar had issued a notification asking court employees to have the Aadhaar card for disbursal of employment-related benefits.

At this,the Bench disputed the government’s claim and held that an interim order was necessitated in view of these instances.

As the law officers sought to oppose passing of any order without a full-fledged hearing,the Bench said: “How does this order affect you? How are you aggrieved when you maintain that Aadhaar is voluntary? We are also saying the same thing,besides asking you not to issue Aadhaar to illegal migrants.”

On the issue of specific directions on benefits or services being denied in a particular state for non-possession of the Aadhaar card,the Bench asked Divan to move separate applications with categorical prayers.

The PIL filed by Justice K S Puttaswamy,a retired judge of the Karnataka High Court,has challenged the legal validity of the Aadhaar scheme of the Unique Identification Authority of India.

It raised questions not only over the government’s authority to implement the scheme,but also highlighted the perils of the manner of its implementation,including distributing it to illegal immigrants.