Centre to apex court: Aadhaar card optional, not mandatory

The Centre on Monday told the Supreme Court that securing Aadhaar cards was optional and not mandatory.

The apex court, hearing a batch of pleas against decisions of some States to make Aadhaar cards compulsory for a range of activities including salary, Provident Fund disbursals and marriage and property registrations, asked the Centre not to issue it to illegal immigrants as it would legitimise their stay.

Counsel for the Unique Identification Authority of India and the Centre responded to the pleas, saying, “So far as the Union of India is concerned, we have said the Aadhaar card is voluntary.”

During the brief hearing, the Bench of justices B.S. Chauhan and S.A. Bobde was told that despite the fact that the Aadhaar card is “voluntary” in nature, an order has been issued by the Registrar of the Bombay High Court in pursuance of an order of the Maharashtra Government that it would be necessary for disbursal of salary of judges and staff also.

“The scheme is complete infraction of Fundamental Rights under Articles 14 (right to equality) and 21 (right to life and liberty). The Government claims that the scheme is voluntary but it is not so.

“Aadhaar is being made mandatory for purposes such as registration of marriages and others. The Maharashtra Government had recently said no marriage will be registered if parties don’t have Aadhaar cards,” senior advocate Anil Divan, arguing for K.S. Puttaswamy, a former judge of Karnataka High Court, said.In his public interest litigation, Puttaswamy also sought a stay on the implementation of the scheme.

Making Aadhaar mandatory for various purposes raises questions over the Government’s authority to implement such types of the scheme, it said, adding it also highlighted “the perils of the manner of its implementation.” The Centre has said the consent of an individual was indispensable for Aadhaar and it has been launched to “promote inclusion and benefits of the marginalised sections of society that has no formal identity proof.”

Illegal immigrants

The Supreme Court asked the Government not to issue the cards to illegal immigrants and not set them as a pre-condition for availing welfare schemes. Alleging political gains to the ruling party in the issuance of Aadhaar card, senior counsel Anil Divan told the apex court bench of Justice B.S. Chauhan and Justice S.A. Bobde that indiscriminate issuance of Aadhar numbers to all residents, including illegal migrants, created a serious threat to national security.

Resisting the plea for interim directions by the petitioner, Solicitor General Mohan Parasaran told the court that Aadhaar card was purely voluntary and there was no need for interim directions.

The senior counsel told the court that there was no legislative backing for obtaining personal information and the proposed legislation that Government had introduced was rejected by the parliamentary standing committee on finance.

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