Supreme Court to decide whether to modify 'Aadhar card not mandatory' order
The Supreme Court will debate on Tuesday whether to change its ruling that the government's Aadhar or the Unique Identity Card scheme is not mandatory.
Ahead of the decision, activist Aruna Roy today moved the top court against making Aadhar mandatory, saying several citizens without the cards are being denied basic services.
The government had earlier asked the court to modify its ruling on Aadhar, and make it mandatory for social welfare schemes heavily subsidized by the government.
Last month, the court said that the Centre or states must not insist on Aadhar cards for providing essential services. "No citizen should suffer for the want of Aadhar cards", the court had said on a petition questioning the validity of the Unique Identity Card scheme.
The Supreme Court also rejected the Centre's argument that Rs. 50,000 crore had been spent in issuing these cards to citizens.
Last week, the Centre asked the court to reconsider the order, which deals a severe blow to the Manmohan Singh government's plans to reach out to the masses with ambitious schemes like food security and direct cash transfer ahead of national polls due in May.
The government says the Aadhar card was a "voluntary project" to include and benefit marginalized sections of the society that had no formal identity proof.
The petitioner in this case had complained that the government claimed the Aadhar card is voluntary, but citizens were being told it was mandatory for certain purposes like registration of marriages.
Aruna Roy agreed, saying in her petition today, "the non- possession of Aadhar card has become the basis for denial of various government services."