UIDAI directs schools not to make Aadhaar card compulsory during admission

New Delhi, December 26: Linking Aadhaar card to every account and availing it during admission was mandatory. The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has asked schools not to make Aadhar number mandatory for admission to schools. Reclining to the Supreme Court recent decision, the UIDAI said that asking for Aadhaar card as pre condition for admission is not allowed.

The UIDAI CEO Ajay Bhushan Pandey said that as per the law, asking for Aadhaar card is not admissible and school admission and other facilities to children cannot be made conditional to production of Aadhaar. He further added that the schools should give children admission and ensures that if they do not have an Aadhaar card they are made available to them by arranging specials camps in schools.

UIDAI has asked the school authorities and their management to ensure that no child is denied admission for lack of Aadhaar. By doing so would be considered as “contempt of court”.

The word of caution from UIDAI comes at a time when admissions to nursery and entry-level classes have just begun in over 1,500 private schools in Delhi.

Upholding the constitutional validity of Aadhaar, the Supreme Court in September this year snapped the scope of biometric identification, ruling it was not mandatory for bank accounts, mobile connections and school admissions. However, the Aadhaar card remains compulsory for filing Income Tax (IT) returns and allotment of PAN and welfare schemes.

The SC verdict emphasised that it would not be mandatory for school admissions, as also for the examinations conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Examination, National Eligibility cum Entrance Test for medical entrance and the University Grants Commission.