"Claims Look Legitimate" : AG Tells Supreme Court On Plea Seeking Aadhaar Cards For Those Included In Assam NRC Supplementary List

Supreme Court on Thursday granted two weeks to the Centre to look into the matter pertaining to the issuance of Aadhaar cards to nearly 27 lakh persons who were added in the supplementary list of Assam National Register of Citizens published in August 2019. The matter was heard by a bench comprising Chief Justice U.U. Lalit and Justice Bela M. Trivedi.

At the outset, the counsel appearing for petitioners, Senior Advocate Biswajit Deb submitted that while citizens whose names had been mentioned in the first National Register of Citizens (NRC) list had received their Aadhar Cards, the same was not the case for those whose names had occurred in the second list. 

The Attorney General For India, R. Venkataramani sought two weeks to look into the matter and said–

"These look like legitimate claims. As an interim measure if there is something, that can be looked into. I can come back in two weeks."

Accordingly, the CJI granted him two weeks and added that a note also may be submitted so that issues in the matter could be collated and looked at. The matter is now listed for 9th November 2022. 

In its last hearing, the court had issued notice to the Union Government, the Registrar General of India, Unique Identification Authority of India(UIDAI) and the State of Assam in the petition which was filed by All India Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha MP Sushmita Dev.

The petition filed through Advocate-on-Record Tulika Mukherjee states that though the people whose names were included in the Final List tried to apply for Aadhar Cards, the UIDAI rejected their applications. It was stated that the petitioner received representations from several people who were not able to obtain Aadhaar cards. Arguing that the denial of Aadhaar cards to persons included in the second list amounts to discrimination and arbitrariness resulting in the infraction of Article 14, the plea states:

"It is submitted that by not providing the Aadhar numbers to the people appearing in the Final list dated 31.08.2019, there has been creation of a class within a class, as the people in the Final Supplementary List are being treated differently from the people whose names appeared in the First Draft List on 31.12.2017. It is submitted there exists no bar with respect to people whose names appeared in the First Draft List and in the subsequent NRC List on 31.08.2019. It is submitted that both sets of people are equal in the sense that their names appear in the NRC and therefore, should be meted out equal treatment with respect to their rights which arise from their registration under the same."

The petition submitted that once a person had been registered under the NRC, whether it be in the First Draft List or the Supplementary List, they were entitled to the same benefits as that of a Citizen of India, and therefore, there existed no intelligible differentia between persons whose names appear in the NRC.

It was further submitted that there existed no bar under the Aadhar Act to deny Aadhar number to persons whose names appeared in the Final Supplementary NRC list released on 31.08.2019. The only criteria laid down under the Aadhar Act was that the person should have been a resident of the Country for a period of 182 days or more in the preceding 12 months prior to filing an application. Further, as the Aadhar Number was not a proof of citizenship, grant of Aadhar would have no bearing on the effect of the object and purpose of the Citizenship Act.

Case Title : Sushmita Dev versus Union of India and others, WP(c) 1361/2021

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