NDA Govt Tells Supreme Court of India that Aadhaar was not mandatory for people to avail of social benefit schemes Friday Feb 13,2015

The Centre on Friday Feb 13,2015 told the Supreme Court that Aadhaar was not mandatory for people to avail of social benefit schemes, LPG subsidy and other public services.

It is to be noted that the SC had, on February 2, 2015 asked the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government to clarify its stand on Aadhaar's validity

Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar submitted before a bench presided over by Chief Justice H L Dattu that the government had complied with a previous order by the apex court.

The SC however, admitted for hearing a fresh public interest litigation (PIL) questioning the validity of Aadhaar and seeking destruction of data collected so far

Acting on a set of petitions, including the one filed by Justice K S Puttaswamy, the SC had, on September 23, 2013, said: “No person should suffer for not getting the Aadhaar card, in spite of the fact that some authority had issued a circular making it mandatory, and when any person applies to get Aadhaar Card voluntarily, it may be checked whether the person is entitled for it under law, and it should not be given to any illegal immigrant.”