October 7, 2015 7:22 AM

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Centre pitches for voluntary benefit of Aadhaar card in SC

Supreme Court is likely to decide today whether to review its 11th August order restricting the use of Aadhaar cards for PDS and LPG distribution schemes. Yesterday, an apex court bench reserved its order on the pleas for relaxation, modification and clarification of its interim order by Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), RBI, SEBI, Pension Fund Regulatory Authority and states like Gujarat and Jharkhand. <br/><br/>Appearing for the Centre, Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi pitched strongly in the Court for voluntary use of Aadhaar cards to provide benefits of various welfare schemes, other than PDS and LPG, at the doorsteps of the aged and weaker sections of society, which are the target groups. Rohatgi opened the arguments for UIDAI for lifting the bar on use of Aadhaar cards for various welfare schemes including Prime Minister's Jan Dhan Yojna. <br/><br/>He was supported by Additional Solicitor Generals Tushar Mehta, P S Patwalia, Pinky Anand and senior advocates K K Venugopal and Jayant Bhushan who were appearing for various government organisations and NGOs. All of them were in agreement with the Attorney General that since the apex court had said Aadhaar card was not mandatory, there should not be any problem in allowing it to be used on voluntarily basis to establish the identity of persons to make available the benefits of welfare scheme.

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