Supreme Court seeks responses from Centre, States on plea to use Aadhaar card only as identity proof

The Supreme Court on Tuesday, June 16, sought response of the central and state governments on a petition alleging misuse of the UIDAI-issued Aadhaar cards as proof of citizenship, domicile and residential address.

The plea, filed by advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay, has asked for directions to restrict the use of Aadhaar cards strictly for identity verification, PTI reported.

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While hearing the matter, the bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice V Mohana issued notices to Centre and all states and Union Territories and further tagged it with other similar pending matters.

The plea, filed through advocate Ashwani Dubey, has sought directions to the Central and state governmentss as well as the Election Commission of India to ensure that the Aadhaar card is used only as a proof of identity and not as a proof of citizenship, domicile, address and date of birth.

Further, it asked for directions that Aadhaar card’s use as a proof of date of birth and residence in the application form for new voter registration should be considered against Section 9 of the Aadhaar Act, 2016, Section 23(4) of the RPA, 1950 and Article 14 of the Constitution, according to PTI.

“Section 9 of the Aadhaar Act, 2016 expressly states that ‘Aadhaar is not the evidence of citizenship or domicile’. The Unique Identification Authority of India notification dated August 22, 2023 clearly states that ‘Aadhaar is proof of identity, not of citizenship, address or date of birth’… Despite this, Aadhaar is not only being used as a proof of age, citizenship and domicile for school admission, property purchase and to obtain a birth certificate, ration card, driving licence but also being used in the application form for new voter registration (Form-6) as a proof of date of birth and proof of residence. And thus, infiltrators and illegal immigrants are obtaining various documents using Aadhaar,” the petition states.

Also, the plea mentions that the present verification mechanism under Form-6 is inadequate. It claims that this could allow people without proper supporting documents to be included in the electoral database.

Moreover, the petition has asked for a comprehensive overhaul of the verification framework used in electoral processes. It has proposed the establishment of a high-powered monitoring committee, which comprises a retired Supreme Court judge along with cybersecurity and forensic experts, to oversee reforms.