Supreme Court Judgement on UID/Aadhaar is against mandatory UID/Aadhaar for admission
To
Smt. Keshni Anand Arora
Chief Secretary
Government of Haryana
Chandigarh
Date: 18/06/2020
Subject-Urgent: June 18, 2020 letter of District Elementary Education Officer, Hisar, Haryana on the subject of mandatory submission of UID/Aadhaar Number in manifest violation of Hon'ble Supreme Court Judgement on UID/Aadhaar
Madam,
With due respect this is with reference to the attached June 18, 2020 letter of District Elementary Education Officer, Hisar, Haryana on the subject of mandatory submission of UID/Aadhaar Number which is in manifest violation of the 1448 page long verdict of Hon'ble Supreme Court's verdict on UID/Aadhaar.
We submit that the directions given at page numbers 401-402, paragraph 332 of the Hon'ble Supreme Court's verdict of 26 September, 2018 creates a compulsion for review and revision of the illegal and unjust order in question. It merits your urgent attention because the illegal order in question has fixed 3 PM, June 19, 2020 as the deadline requiring mandatory submission of UID/Aadhaar Number. The verdict is against mandatory UID/Aadhaar for admission. The relevant text of Hon'ble Court's verdict is as under:
" 332) After considering the matter in depth and having regard to the discussion aforesaid, we hold as under:
(a) For the enrolment of children under the Aadhaar Act, it would be essential to have the consent of their parents/guardian. (b) On attaining the age of majority, such children who are enrolled under Aadhaar with the consent of their parents, shall be given the right to exit from Aadhaar, if they so choose.
(c) Insofar as the school admissions of children are concerned, requirement of Aadhaar would not be compulsory as it is neither a service nor subsidy. Further, having regard to the fact that a child between the age of 6 to 14 years has the fundamental right to education under Article 21A of the Constitution, school admission cannot be treated as ‘benefit’ as well.
(d) Benefits to children between 6 to 14 years under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, likewise, shall not require mandatory Aadhaar Writ Petition (Civil) No. 494 of 2012 & connected matters Page 401 of 567 enrolment.
(e) For availing the benefits of other welfare schemes which are covered by Section 7 of the Aadhaar Act, though enrolment number can be insisted, it would be subject to the consent of the parents, as mentioned in (a) above.
(f) We also clarify that no child shall be denied benefit of any of these schemes if, for some reasons, she is not able to produce the Aadhaar number and the benefit shall be given by verifying the identity on the basis of any other documents. We may record that a statement to this effect was also made by Mr. K.K. Venugopal, learned Attorney General for India, at the Bar."
The verdict is available at https://main.sci.gov.in/ supremecourt/2012/35071/35071_ 2012_Judgement_26-Sep-2018.pdf
Therefore, we submit that in view of the above mentioned directions of the Hon'ble Court, there is a compelling reason for the administration to rectify the error ridden order to ensure that no one is denied the fundamental rights recognized under Article 21 of the Constitution of India and reiterated by the Hon'ble Court.
We will be happy to share more information in this regard.
warm regards
Gopal Krishna
Citizens Forum for Civil Liberties (CFCL)*
Web: www.toxicswatch.org
*Citizens Forum for Civil Liberties (CFCL) has been working on the issue of Unique Identification (UID) Number branded as “Aadhaar” since 2010. CFCL appeared as an expert to give testimony in front of Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance which examined the National Identification Authority of India Bill, 2010 (Aadhaar Bill, 2010).
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