SrinagarThe Jammu and Kashmir High Court on Monday directed government to fi e its response to an affidavit, stating that 33% people in the state have been left out from the purview of Adhaar.
Hearing a Public Interest Litigation, a Chief Justice Badar Durez Ahmad and Justice Ali Mohammad Magrey posted the matter in September for further consideration.
During the hearing counsel representing that state counsel submitted that the issue was pending before the constitutional bench of Supreme Court.
With these submissions the court kept the matter for further proceedings September and in the meantime sought response to the supplementary affidavit filed by the petitioner, advocate Syed Musaib Ahmad.
In May this year, the J&K High Court gave green signal to the installation of biometric attendance system in government office, clarifying that its stay only pertains to linking it with adhaar cards in the state.
The court had reiterating its observation that procurement of Adhaar card cannot be made mandatory until apex court decided the issue finally.
Aadhar is a 12-digit unique identity number issued by the UIDAI (Unique Identification Authority of India), a government of India agency which was established by the Planning Commission in 2009.
In November last year, the High Court has quashed a government order, making Aadhar card mandatory for its employees for drawing various entitlements including the salary.
From the perusal of the Supreme Court order dated 15-10-2015, it is evident that matter was referred to the constitution bench for final hearing, making it clear that Aadhaar card scheme is voluntary and cannot be made mandatory till the matter is decided by the Supreme Court in one way or the other, the high court had said and asked the government to strictly follow the apex courts interim orders from 29 March 2013.
It is beyond doubt that government order issued cannot all be sustained as it is in violation of the interim orders passed by the Supreme Court, the division bench had said and quashed the government order (No. 35-F of 2016 dated 10-2-2016) with a liberty to the administration to issue a fresh order in compliance with the interim orders passed by the apex court relating to foods grains, cooking fuel such as kerosene and for the purpose of the LPG distribution scheme.
The petitioner has submitted in the PIL that the government order suffers from infirmity with respect to the Constitution as people in the state are forced to disclose private information under the cloak of the Aadhar scheme. Accordingly, he had sought directions from the High Court to quash the order and direct the administration not to make possession of the Adhaar card mandatory for any benefits due to a citizen.
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