Aadhaar not mandatory for now says SC

The Supreme Court ordered a partial stay on the linking of Aadhaar with PAN cards.

The court made it clear that those PAN cards without Aadhaar cannot be junked until the court finishes hearing the matter. A Constitution Bench of the SC will hear the matter, but the date has not been mentioned by the SC.

The court said that invalidating PAN cards of citizens who have not linked them to Aadhaar will invite severe consequences. Though fake PAN is a threat, Parliament should consider toning down the consequence of Aaadhaar-PAN linking. Further the court also added that it rejected the argument that Aadhaar-PAN linkage should be subject to voluntariness.

The Centre argued that 11.15 crore people have voluntarily registered for Aadhaar and hence there is no need for the court to consider an interim stay on the scheme. The Aadhaar also enforces a citizen's right to identify. It also said since 95 per cent of the population had registered for Aadhaar, the petitioner's exclusion allegations are not true.

OneIndia News