SC refuses to entertain PIL seeking to restrict Aadhaar issuance only to children up to 6 years
The petition should be treated as a representation to the government as it required changes in the legal framework governing issuance of Aadhaar, a Bench led by the Chief Justice of India said
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 numbers 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 the Parliament and the government. They will take care of them,” the Bench said.
Alleging that the present system Aadhaar enrolment 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.
Originally designed to ensure efficient and targeted delivery of subsidies, the Aadhaar framework has become vulnerable due to weak and easily manipulable verification processes, he said highlighting the alleged misuse of Aadhaar enrolment system and its implications for national security, welfare distribution and electoral integrity.
The PIL alleges that infiltrators are able to obtain Aadhaar under the category meant for Indian residents and thereafter secure other documents such as ration cards, domicile certificates, and voter IDs, eventually becoming indistinguishable from citizens, leading to diversion of public resources, exclusion of genuine beneficiaries and violation of constitutional principles of equality and fairness.
Upadhyay urged the top court to direct the authorities to install display boards at common service centres stating that the 12-digit unique identification number was only a “proof of identity” and not a proof of citizenship, address or date of birth.
He demanded that applicants should furnish mandatory undertakings affirming the correctness of information and awareness of penalties for false declarations, along with the display of punishments for obtaining Aadhaar and other documents through fake records. He also sought a declaration that sentences for obtaining fake identity, citizenship, address, or date-of-birth documents should run consecutively.
Besides the UIDAI, the PIL made all states and union territories, union ministries of home and law & justice, and electronics & information technology parties to the case.
The petitioner contended that Aadhaar should function as a foundational identity established at an early stage of life and that adults seeking Aadhaar thereafter should undergo rigorous background verification through authorities such as SDM or Tehsildar.
Such a mechanism would effectively curb misuse, as infiltrators are unlikely to enter the system as children below six years of age. The plea also asserts that since over 144 crore Aadhaar numbers have already been generated; restricting fresh issuance to children would not prejudice genuine citizens, he submitted.
The lack of differentiation between citizens and non-citizens resulted in the misuse of subsidies and defeated the objective of targeted welfare delivery, violating Articles 14, 19, and 21 of the Constitution, besides impacting the electoral integrity.
