Supreme Court notice on plea for making Aadhaar card not mandatory for getting COVID-19 vaccine

The Supreme Court on Friday sought a response from the Centre on a plea seeking directions to not insist on the production of Aadhaar card as the only proof of identification for Covid-19 vaccination.

A bench headed by Justice D.Y. Chandrachud asked the counsel for the petitioner, "Don't go by newspaper articles. Have you seen the CoWIN app yourself recently?"

The bench further added that the app has been updated and there are now a variety of ID proofs to register for vaccination.

The petitioner Siddharthshankar Sharma moved the top court through advocate Mayank Kshirsagar. The plea sought protection of right to vaccination granted to the citizens, which is dangerously endangered on account of denial of vaccination due to non-submission of Aadhaar details to the concerned authority despite possessing one of the seven prescribed photo-identification mentioned on the CoWIN app.

The bench noted that Aadhaar card is not the only ID which is accepted by the concerned authorities. "You can also register with a drivers' license, PAN card, voter ID, passport, ration card, etc. You go and verify for yourself," the bench told the counsel.

Kshirsagar submitted that one can register with any of the seven IDs, but when you visit a centre for vaccination, the authorities insist on Aadhaar. He added that everything on paper is there, but people are still facing this problem. After hearing arguments in the matter, the top court issued notice on the plea.

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