The Centre on Monday told the Supreme Court that the Aadhaar card is not mandatory for registration on CoWIN portal for Covid vaccination.
A bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and Surya Kant was informed by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare that one of the nine identity documents including passport, driving licence, PAN card, voter’s card, ration card can be produced for vaccination.The apex court took note of the submission and disposed of a plea filed by Siddharth Shankar Sharma who claimed that the Aadhaar card was being mandatorily insisted upon for administering Covid vaccination on the CoWIN portal.The apex court had on October 1, 2021 issued notice to the Centre on the PIL.”Pursuant to this court’s order dated October 1, 2021, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has filed an affidavit which records that the Aadhaar card is not mandatory for registration on CoWIN portal and one of the nine identity documents can be produced… It is also recorded in the affidavit that a provision has been made for other category of persons who may not have identity cards in their possession like prison inmates, inmates at mental health institutions, etc,” the bench said.
