Delhi High Court Upholds Suspension Of Circulars Making Aadhaar Card Mandatory Requirement For EWS School Admissions
The Delhi High Court has affirmed the suspension of two circulars that required the submission of Aadhaar Cards for admission to private unaided schools in the Economically Weaker Section (EWS), Disadvantaged Group (DG), and Children with Special Needs (CWSN) categories. This intra-court appeal stemmed from an interim order which temporarily suspended the enforcement of circulars which mandated the requirement of an Aadhaar Card or Number for admission to private unaided recognized schools in Delhi under the EWS/DG/CWSN category.
A Division Bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Sanjeev Narula ruled, “The issue of obtaining sensitive personal details of a child, as observed in K.S. Puttaswamy case, would have the potential of infringing their right to privacy under Article 21 of the Constitution of India. It would thus suffice to state that the impugned Circulars are prima facie in conflict with the constitutional provisions, effect whereof has rightly been stayed by learned Single Judge.”
Advocate Santosh Kr. Tripathi appeared for the Appellant and Advocate Ayush Agarwala appeared for the Respondent.
The respondent, a father of a five-year-old child, had claimed that his child couldn't participate in the computerized lottery scheme for school seat allocation in the academic year 2023-24 due to the lack of an Aadhaar Card/Number. This was a result of the Circulars, which made it mandatory to provide an Aadhaar Card in the online application. In response, the respondent filed a writ petition challenging this requirement.
The appellant challenged the impugned order on various grounds, emphasizing that the Aadhaar requirement aimed to prevent duplicate applications and improve the admission process for EWS/DG category students, without compromising privacy or security.
The Single Judge had based their decision on the Supreme Court's judgment in the case of Justice K.S. Puttaswamy (Retd.) and Anr. v. Union of India and Ors. The Supreme Court herein had ruled that school admission does not fall under Section 7 of the Aadhaar Act, as it is neither a subsidy nor a service. The court also held that making Aadhaar mandatory would violate fundamental rights protected by Article 21 of the Constitution of India. Consequently, the Single Judge had temporarily suspended the Circulars, finding them inconsistent with the Supreme Court's judgment.
The Court, in agreement with the Single Judge, found that the requirement to obtain sensitive personal details of a child, as indicated in the K.S. Puttaswamy case, could potentially infringe on their right to privacy under Article 21 of the Constitution. Therefore, the impugned Circulars were deemed prima facie in conflict with constitutional provisions, and their enforcement was appropriately stayed by the Single Judge.
The Court said as this appeal dealt only with an interim order, and the Single Judge is yet to make a final decision, the Court chose not to further deliberate on the issues raised in the appeal.
The Court found no merit in the present appeal and dismissed it.
Cause Title: Govt Of NCT Of Delhi v. Sashank Yadav
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