Saturday, August 1, 2015

8407 - 'Aadhaar Card Not Mandatory to Get Benefits' - Indian Express

By Kanu Sarda
Published: 31st July 2015 03:23 AM

NEW DELHI:The Centre on Thursday opposed before the Supreme Court a plea seeking initiation of contempt proceedings against it, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and others for allegedly insisting on Aadhaar cards to grant benefits of various schemes to citizens, saying it was not mandatory.

Additional Solicitor General Pinky Anand told a three-judge Bench headed by Justice J Chelameswar that as per apex court’s earlier orders, the Centre has conveyed to the states and concerned authorities not to make Aadhaar cards, issued by Unique Identification Authority of India, mandatory for availing various schemes .

The government said that persons, having Aadhaar cards, were being asked to provide it to authorities but this was optional.
Senior advocate Gopal Subramanium, appearing for Mathew Thomas, one of the PIL petitioners, had filed an application seeking initiation of contempt proceedings against the Centre and others including the Election Commission.

He had alleged that the Government and others were in violation of earlier orders that had said that no person should be denied any benefit or “suffer” for not having Aadhaar cards.
“When the hearing is going on, how can the government bring in more evidence in the court stating the benefits of Aadhaar,” Subramaniam argued.

The Bench is 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, marriages and property regis rations.

Earlier, the court had said Aadhaar will not be mandatory and a person, who does not have Aadhaar, should not suffer in availing of government benefits and services like gas connections, vehicle registration, scholarships, marriage registration and Provident Fund.

Justice Puttaswamy, in his PIL, has also sought a stay on the implementation of the scheme.


The Centre had said that the consent of an individual was indispensable for Aadhaar and it has been launched to “promote inclusion and benefits of the marginalised sections of the society that has no formal identity proof.”