How can homeless get Aadhaar, asks Supreme Court

New Delhi: Supreme Court on Wednesday pulled up the Centre on its insistence on Aadhaar card from homeless persons across the country seeking asylum in night shelter homes during the current winter. 

A bench of Justices Madan Lokur and Deepak Gupta asked Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta as to how the Centre intends to issue the Aadhaar card for lakhs of homeless persons in the country in the absence of a residential identity.

The court also wondered how, such persons could be given any national identity at all when they do not have any individual proof of residence.

Justice Lokur asked the ASG, “A person who is homeless how will he have an Aadhaar card. So far as the Union of the India is concerned these homeless persons do not exist?” 

Mr Mehta said since Aadhaar card enrolment was not the issue before the present bench he would prefer not to address the query. The bench then asked advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the petitioner for his views on the issue to which the counsel said the government claims to have issued 90 crore Aadhaar cards, but certainly has not bothered to give the homeless any such identity.

The bench agreed with Bhushan’s suggestion and said not only Aadhaar cards, but the homeless do not have even other national identity like voter ID cards. The bench also expressed dismay at the progress of the construction of night shelters across the country despite a number of earlier directions by the court. 

The court later directed that all states and UTs in the country shall have three member coordination committees each headed by the principal secretary, urban development to monitor the construction and maintenance of the night shelters.