New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday refused to modify its September 8 order. In this order, the Election Commission of India (ECI) was allowed to allow Aadhaar card as the 12th document as proof of identity for inclusion of voters in the revised electoral roll being prepared as part of the Special Comprehensive Improvement (SIR) in Bihar.
A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi said that the direction issued by them last week was only of an interim nature and the issue of validity of this document as evidence in the case related to SIR is still open for decision.
The Supreme Court said that other documents like ration card and driving license can also be fake like Aadhaar card and Aadhaar cannot be excluded on this basis.
The bench said, “Driving licenses can be fake, ration cards can be fake. Many documents can be fake. Aadhaar will be used to the extent permitted by law.’’
The court, hearing a petition by Supreme Court lawyer Ashwini Upadhyay, argued, “Anyone can get an Aadhaar card by staying in India for just 182 days and it is neither a proof of citizenship nor residence.” He said there are lakhs of Rohingyas and Bangladeshis in Bihar and allowing the use of Aadhaar would be a disaster.
The bench replied, “ECI will consider the disaster or the absence of disaster.” However, it issued a notice to the ECI on Upadhyay’s petition.
The Supreme Court also said that it is holding that the Election Commission, as a constitutional authority, is following the law during the SIR process and warned that if any illegality is found, the process will be quashed. The court has fixed October 7 for hearing the final arguments on the validity of the Bihar SIR.