In an important decision, the Supreme Court has refused to accept the Aadhaar card as a sufficient document of age. The court also rejected the order of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, in which the Aadhaar card was accepted for age determination for giving compensation to the victim of a road accident.
A school leaving certificate necessary under the Juvenile Justice Act.
A bench of Justice Sanjay Karol and Justice Ujjal Bhuiyan said that under Section 94 of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, the age of the deceased could be determined from the related date of birth mentioned in the concern school leaving certificate.
UIDAI also did not consider an Aadhaar card as proof of date of birth
The bench said that we find that the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) in its circular number 8/2023 in reference to an office memorandum issued by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology on December 20, 2018, has also stated that the Aadhaar card, although it can be used to establish identity of some one, is not the proof of date of birth.
High Court verdict overturned.
The MACT of Rohtak had been awarded a compensation of Rs 19.35 lakh, which had been reduced to Rs 9.22 lakh by the Haryana High Court as it had found that the MACT had been wrongly calculated the age while determining the compensation. The High Court had relied on the Aadhaar card of the deceased and estimated his age to be 47 years.
Supreme Court upholds MACT verdict.
When it came to age determination, the apex court accepted the argument of the appellant-appellants before it. Also, it upheld the decision of the Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal (MACT). The MACT had determined the age of the deceased based on his school leaving certificate. The apex court was hearing an appeal filed by the family of a person who died in a road accident in the year 2015.
This verdict has made it clear that the Aadhaar card is only proof of identity and not of date of birth. Now, the school leaving certificate will be given preference while determining age for any government scheme or benefit.