The Supreme Court of India has ruled that state governments must not insist that citizens produce the Aadhaar card in order to receive essential services.
In what is being billed as a landmark development, Indias highest court ruled that the unique identification (UID) number, popularly known as Aadhaar Card, is no longer mandatory when it comes to getting essential services from either the central or state governments. The Aadhaar card is a central pillar of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) governments agenda.
For some time now, some state governments have been insisting that citizens have to produce their Aadhaar Card in order to receive essential services such as registration of marriage unions, salary and provident fund disbursement as well as a host of other public services.
The ruling was delivered in response to a public interest litigation (PIL) case filed by Justice KS Puttaswamy, a retired Karnataka High Court judge, and an advocate Pravesh Khanna. The two had questioned the legal sanctity of the requirement to produce the Aadhaar card to complete every day formalities at government offices.
The Apex Courts bench comprising Justices SA Bobde and BS Chauhan also directed both state and central governments not to issue the Aadhaar card to immigrants who come into the country illegally.