NOW AADHAAR WILL FOLLOW YOU TO THE GRAVE!

Brace your Aadhaar for your posthumous need! Yes, you read that right. Like the phrase goes about your karma following you everywhere, your Aadhaar or UID will be following you to the grave, as the Govt has now mandated that Aadhaar Number would be made mandatory for the Registration of Death in Govt records. The Notification has been published by the Registrar General of India, mandating that starting October 1^st this year, Aadhaar Number would also need to be entered in the particulars furnished in Death Certificates. The purpose behind the move is to curb instances of identity falsification, obtain correct details of the relatives/dependents and acquaintances of the deceased; and avoid other people fraudulently claiming subsidies in the name of the deceased. Several subsidy/benefit distribution schemes have been integrated with Aadhaar, and linking it with Death Certificate will create an interconnected web of information regarding the beneficiaries.

However, notification also clarifies that non-availability of the detail will not result in a blatant refusal to provide Death Certificate. If the applicant is not aware of the Aadhaar details of the deceased, he could provide a certificate to the Authorities declaring that this is the case to the best of his/her knowledge. Furnishing false declarations to this effect would lead to a case of fraud, and the person would be liable under the Aadhaar Act and The Registration of Births and Deaths Act. It is also pertinent to note that Banks Accounts are also now largely linked with the holder’s Aadhaar Number, and it will enable them to close accounts easily and avoiding any chance of mistakes. The Authorities would also collect the Aadhaar numbers of the spouse/parents of the deceased, and that of the applicant as well.

The Ministry has exempted from the purview of the Notification, Meghalaya, Assam and Jammu & Kashmir; wherein Assam and Meghalaya are largely under a scheme of National Population Register and the majority population is not enrolled on the Aadhaar platform. Senior Citizens who are not yet enrolled on Aadhaar can do so by September 30^th, and the State Departments of Birth and Death Registration are obligated to ensure compliance of the new provision from October 1^st. The current position allows any document proving identity to be submitted to the Authorities for Registration purpose.

The move comes at a time when major controversies and protests are being raised by the public on the fear of privacy infringement, and the Supreme Court 9-Judge Bench ruling that privacy is not a Fundamental Right. Several other documents like PAN Card, Ration Card, Bank Account, Mobile Number, several etc. are presently linked to Aadhaar, and the Law Commission recently recommended linking Marriage Certificates with Aadhaar as well. The UID is now emerging into the quintessential identity document in India and is being made mandatory for availing a plethora of essential services; slowly shaping it into the center of all personal records of the holder.

So if you already do not possess Aadhaar, it is peak time to rush to your nearest Aadhaar Centre and get yourself enrolled.

AADHAAR CARD MATTERS TO BE HEARD BY CONSTITUTION BENCH

Whilst protests arising from various fronts upon making Aadhaar Card (Unique Identification Number) mandatory for several purposes and legal documentations, it is also rapidly increasing its stronghold as a centralized information database on a predominant proportion of India’s population. Aadhaar is currently linked to several documents like PAN, Mobile Number, Ration Card, etc. and there are initiatives on the part of the Govt to bring more services within its scope. Along with it, the Govt recently made a move to make Aadhaar linked with social welfare schemes which was opposed and contested in the Supreme Court recently, and the Court stated that all matters related to Aadhaar must be decided by a Constitution Bench, to bring about a final rule on the matter.

The newly appointed Attorney General Mr. K K Venugopal appeared for the first time before the Court after his appointment, in the matter that was put before a three-judge Bench last week. The Court opined that the matter must be settled finally by way of judgment of a larger Bench, and recommended to both the appearing Counsels to have the matter requested to the Chief Justice to constitute a larger Bench to pronounce a decision on all Aadhaar related cases. Only recently, the 270^th Report of the Law Commission of India recommended that marriages being registered also be linked to Aadhaar in order to reduce instances of false particulars being furnished by parties. If this recommendation receives approval of the Ministry, UID would become linked to the marriage information of the citizens under the rule of compulsory registration of marriages that is already being moved by the Govt. Earlier Orders of the Supreme Court on various occasions pronounced that Aadhaar must not regarded mandatory by Govt agencies for extending benefits under social welfare schemes, but allowed that it may be sought voluntarily from citizens for services like LPG subsidy, Jan Dhan Yojana, etc.

In the light of the plethora of cases that have been arising in relation to the matter, and since presumably the statistics are bound to increase with each new addition being made by the Govt to the purview of Aadhaar, a Constitution Bench has been constituted to hear and finally decide all related matters related to Aadhaar. The five-judge Bench will hear the matter next week, and it is hoped that the decision will bring some clarity to all related matters so that multiple litigations on issues related to Aadhaar will be resolved to some extent.