The Supreme Court on Tuesday issued notices to the Centre, states and Union Territories on a petition seeking a direction to the authorities to ensure that Aadhaar cards are used only as an “identity proof” and not a document to support citizenship or other statutory claims.

A bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice V. Mohana posted the matter for further hearing to August 7.

The petitioner flagged the misuse of Aadhaar despite the statutory mandate that the card be used only as a document to establish one’s identity.

“Aadhaar is not only being used as a proof of age, citizenship and domicile for school admission, property purchase and to obtain a birth certificate, ration card, driving licence, but also being used in the application form for new voter registration (Form-6) as a proof of date of birth and proof of residence,” the petitioner filed by advocate Ashwini Upadhyay submitted.

“And thus, infiltrators & illegal immigrants are obtaining various documents using the Aadhaar,” the petition added.

The petitioner submitted that Section 9 of the Aadhaar Act, 2016, expressly states
that “Aadhaar is not the evidence of citizenship or domicile”. The Unique Identification Authority of India notification dated August 22, 2023, also clearly states that “Aadhaar is proof of identity, not of citizenship, address or date of birth”.

The petition contended that Aadhaar could be obtained from common service centres operated by individuals on the recommendation of village pradhans, municipal councillors and even by using a rent agreement.

The petitioner stated that the existing verification mechanism under Form 6 was inadequate and might allow individuals without proper supporting documents to be included in the electoral database.

The plea sought a comprehensive overhaul of the verification framework used in electoral processes and proposed the establishment of a high-powered monitoring committee comprising a retired Supreme Court judge along with cybersecurity and forensic experts to oversee reforms.