India Supreme Court Rejects Plea to Limit Aadhaar Issuance

The Supreme Court of India disposed of a public interest litigation filed by lawyer Ashwini Upadhyay that sought to restrict the issuance of new Aadhaar cards to children under six years of age. The petition argued that current verification processes are too weak, allowing infiltrators to obtain Aadhaar cards and subsequently use them as foundational documents to illegally acquire voter IDs, ration cards, and domicile certificates.

Upadhyay's plea requested the court to mandate stricter guidelines for adults and adolescents. He also sought a requirement for common service centers to display boards clarifying that Aadhaar serves as proof of identity rather than proof of citizenship, address, or date of birth. The petition named the Unique Identification Authority of India and various government bodies as parties.

A bench consisting of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi ruled that the requested reliefs require legislative intervention and amendments to the existing legal framework. The court declined to issue judicial directions, instead instructing the petitioner to bring these grievances to the Union government and Parliament.