A Public Interest Litigation that seeks to impose more stringent requirements in the issuance of Aadhaar cards, including the suggestion that new Aadhaar enrolments be limited to children up to the age of six, will be heard in the Supreme Court of India on Monday. It also seeks to have a formulation of strong principles to issue Aadhaar to adolescents and adults to thwart the so-called abuse by infiltrators who pose as Indian citizens.
The case will be heard by a bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi, according to a causelist, published in May 4, 2012, by the court. Advocate Ashwini Upadhyay has filed the PIL through counsel Ashwani Dubey.
The gist of the plea is that Aadhaar which was initially enacted as a document of identity has over time, evolved to become a foundational document that is mandatory to access a number of essential services including ration cards, voter IDs and domicile certificates. It also asserts that this growth has heightened the chances of abuse and identity theft.
The petitioner has also requested instructions to the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) and other authorities to issue clear notices at Common Service Centres that Aadhaar is not evidence of citizenship, address or date of birth.
UIDAI has reportedly issued more than 144 crore Aadhaar numbers, which is close to the total population. The plea argues that loose verification systems can enable non-citizens to receive Aadhaar cards and enjoy the benefits of welfare schemes, thus taking away public resources.
Other constitutional and legal questions raised by the petition include whether the Aadhaar framework has become temporally unreasonable in addressing the citizenship verification issues in its present form.