SC asks UIDAI to consider an old man's plea to Aadhaar

New Delhi: The Supreme Court today asked the unique identification authority of India (UIDAI) to consider and take suitable steps on the representation of a senior citizen seeking an update in his Aadhaar details.

Observing that government would be “happy” if a citizen comes forward to get Aadhaar, a bench comprising Justices A K Sikri and Ashok Bhushan asked the UIDAI to look into the grievance raised by the 73-year-old petitioner. The counsel for the petitioner told the bench that the man wanted to update his Aadhaar details but there was a problem with his finger print as due to old age, the biometric identification was not matching.

At the outset, the bench asked the petitioner why he had approached the apex court and told him that he should have moved the Delhi High Court for redressal of his grievance. When the petitioner’s counsel said the apex court was seized of the Aadhaar matter, the bench said “the petitions pending here have questioned the Aadhaar. You have got the Aadhaar. You want update in it. You can approach the high court”.

“If somebody comes and says he wants to get Aadhaar, the government will be happy,” the bench observed. The counsel representing the Centre told the bench that the authority would take appropriate steps in the matter. “See the prayer. He (petitioner) wants his Aadhaar to be updated. He says you are not doing it. Please look into it.

There is hardly anything in this,” the bench said. Recently, a bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra had said that a constitution bench would be set up and Aadhaar related petitions would come up for hearing before it in the last week of November. Several petitions challenging the Centre’s move making Aadhaar mandatory for availing various services and benefits of welfare schemes have been filed in the apex court.

The Centre had on October 25 told the top court that the deadline for mandatory linking of Aadhaar to receive benefits of several government schemes has been extended till March 31, 2018 for those who do not have the 12-digit unique biometric identification number and were willing to enroll for it.