No person should suffer for want of Aadhaar: Supreme Court to Centre

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court today asked the Centre and all the states to "adhere to" its earlier order that no person should be denied any benefits or "suffer" for not having Aadhaar cards, issued by Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI).

"In the meantime, it has been brought to the notice that the Aadhaar identification (card) is being insisted upon by various authorities. We are not going into the specific instances...

"We expect that the Union of India (UOI) and states and all their functionaries shall adhere to the order dated September 23, 2013," a three-judge bench headed by Justice Chelameswar said.

The bench had earlier said, "no person should suffer for not getting the Aadhaar card in spite of the fact that some authority had issued a circular making it mandatory...".

At the outset, senior advocate Gopal Subramaniam, who appeared for one of the petitioners, said that despite the court order, authorities are insisting upon Aadhaar cards for the purposes of lease deed and marriage registrations and it is a matter of "serious concern".

"Instances have come to our notice also," the bench, also comprising justices S A Bobde and C Nagappan, said and asked Solicitor General (SG) Ranjit Kumar, appearing for the Centre, to ensure that authorities adhere to its earlier order.

"There is no excuse for you (SG)," it said. The SG responded by saying that the Centre will be writing to all the Chief Secretaries of states in this regard.

The Solicitor General later told the court that as all the states are party, they can be asked to ensure that the order is followed and their officials like District Magistrates are informed about it.

During the hearing, the bench said that even judges of the Bombay High Court, as per a circular, were told to provide Aadhaar number to authorities. However, one of the lawyers said that that issue is now over.

The bench, hearing a batch of pleas against decisions of some states to make Aadhaar cards compulsory for a range of activities including salary, PF disbursals and marriage and property registrations, has now posted the matters for final hearing in the second week of July.