Issues raised in Aadhaar PIL need legislative intervention, says SC

The Supreme Court on Monday refused to entertain a PIL seeking directions to the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) to restrict issuance of Aadhaar cards only to children up to the age of six years and to put in place stringent guidelines for its issuance to adolescents and adults.

Noting that most of the issues raised in the PIL required changes in the legal framework governing the issuance of Aadhaar, a Bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi ordered it to be sent to the government to consider it as a representation.

“As may be seen from the nature of reliefs (sought), most of these require legislative intervention and appropriate amendments in the existing legal framework… Point out these issues to Parliament and the government. They will take care of them,” the Bench said. Alleging that the present Aadhaar enrolment system enabled illegal infiltrators to obtain it, petitioner Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay contended that fresh guidelines were needed to stop infiltrators from and passing off as Indian citizens.