Those without Aadhaar won’t be deprived of govt benefits

The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to pass an interim order against the Centre’s notification making Aadhaar mandatory for availing benefits of social welfare schemes, with the government assuring it that no one would be deprived of them for want of this identification.

The apex court observed that no interim order could be passed merely on the “apprehension” raised by the petitioners that somebody might be deprived of the benefits under the various social welfare schemes due to the lack of Aadhaar especially when no such affected person has come before it.

“No interim order can be passed or mandamus (direction to government official to fulfill official duty) can be issued on mere apprehensions. You have to wait for one week. If somebody is deprived (of the benefits), you can point out the same to this court. What is the difficulty,” a vacation bench of Justices A M Khanwilkar and Navin Sinha told the petitioners.

“We cannot pass orders which are uncertain. You are saying somebody might be deprived, but we have no such person before us,” the bench told senior advocate Shyam Divan, who was appearing for three petitioners.

“The state is a democratic welfare state which is saying that they will not deprive anyone of the benefits. Alternative IDs are valid as of now,” it observed.