Early Times Report
Srinagar, Feb 24: A division bench of the state high court today stayed a government order making possession of Aadhaar card a prerequisite for employees to get salary, and pensioners and others to get legal entitlements.
Hearing a PIL, the bench of Justice M H Attar and Justice A M Magrey also issued notice to government for filing objections.
"The Supreme Court in writ petition (Civil) titled Justice K.S. Puttaswamy (Retd) and Anr vs. Union of India and Ors in its October 15, 2015 order has observed that Aadhaar Card is purely voluntary and it cannot be made mandatory till the matter is decided by the Supreme Court one way or the other," the bench said, observing that prima facie, it appears that government order (35-F of 2016) of February 10, 2016 has made possession of Aadhaar Card mandatory.
"Subject to objections and till next date before the bench, the operation of the government order No 35 of 2016 of February 10, 2016 is stayed," the bench directed.
"The government has made the procurement of Aadhaar card mandatory for claiming essential legal entitlements, which is in clear contravention of the order of the Supreme Court," the petitioners said. The UIDAI (Unique Identification Authority of India), a central government agency of India, was established in 2009 after the Planning Commission of India issued a notification. UIDAI's basic objective was to collect the biometric and demographic data of residents, store them in a centralised database, and issue a 12-digit unique identity number called Aadhaar.
As per the government order, all employees, pensioners and various other people have been asked to get themselves enrolled in Aadhaar system to be able to draw their entitlements from April.
The petitioners have sought direction quashing and setting aside the government order No 35-F of February 10, 2016 . They also sought direction that Aadhar card should not be made mandatory for any benefits otherwise due to a citizen. |
