The Centre filed a plea in the Supreme Court on Friday seeking modification of its order saying that Aadhaar card is voluntary and not mandatory and nobody should be denied benefits of government schemes for not procuring a social security number.
The Centre filed a plea in the Supreme Court on Friday seeking modification of its order saying that Aadhaar card is voluntary and not mandatory and nobody should be denied benefits of government schemes for not procuring a social security number. The plea has been filed by the ministry of petroleum and natural gas (MOPNG) which has sought “clarification or modification” of the order for continuing with its Direct Benefit Transfer for Liquefied Petroleum Gas Consumers (DBTL) scheme which can be availed by only those persons who have secured Aadhaar cards. A bench comprising Chief Justice P. Sathasivam and Justice Ranjan Gogoi, before which the plea was mentioned by Solicitor General Mohan Parasaran, decided to hear the plea on October 8. The order was passed on September 23 by a bench headed by Justice B.S. Chauhan saying, “no person should suffer for not getting the Aadhaar card in spite of the fact that some authority had issued a circular making it mandatory and when any person applies to get the Aadhaar card voluntarily, it may be checked whether that person is entitled for it under the law and it should not be given to any illegal immigrant.” The order had come during the hearing of a PIL filed by Justice K. Puttaswamy, former high court judge, seeking to restrain the Centre, Planning Commission and the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) from issuing Aadhar cards by way of an executive order of January 28, 2009. The MOPNG, in its plea, said the Aadhaar card was not necessary for the consumers who want to purchase unsubsidised LPG cylinders from the oil companies but it is necessary for supply of subsidised cylinders in 54 districts in the country. “Keeping in mind the objectives for which the DBTL scheme has been launched and implemented and the absolute necessity of the Aadhaar card to ensure its successful implementation, this court may be pleased to clarify or modify its order dated 23.09.2013 to state that no one may be denied domestic LPG cylinders.
