Setback for Sonia; Aadhar Card not mandatory, says Supreme Court

New Delhi, Sept 23: In a major setback for

and

, the Supreme Court issued a statement saying that

is not mandatory for Indian citizens as a proof of identity.

Slamming the state governments and the UPA-led Central government, the apex court on Monday, Sept 23 said, "The Centre and state governments must not insist on Aadhar cards from citizens before providing them essential services."

The court also asked the government not to issue Aadhar cards to illegal immigrants. The Supreme Court also asserted that Aadhar Card is not compulsory for important services such as -- marriage registration, disbursal of salaries and provident fund.

The apex court issued the crucial statement while hearing the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by a retired Karnataka High Court judge -- Justice KS Puttaswamy.

Governments must not insist on Aadhar cards from citizens

The petitioner challenged the government's previous effort of having Aadhar card compulsory for all Indians. The petitioner said,, "The scheme is complete infraction of Fundamental Rights under Articles 14 (right to equality) and 21 (right to life and liberty)."

"The government claims that the scheme is voluntary but it is not so. Aadhaar is being made mandatory for purposes like registration of marriages and others. Maharashtra government has recently said no marriage will be registered if parties don't have Aadhaar cards," added in the PIL.

Aadhar is one of the main schemes of the UPA-2. It is headed by the Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani. The Centre had earlier claimed that for an Aadhaar card, consent of an individual was indispensable and hence it was a voluntary project, with an objective to promote inclusion and benefits of the marginalised sections of the society that has no formal identity proof.

OneIndia News