New Delhi: The Supreme Court Monday accepted a three-member panel’s suggestion to issue Aadhaar cards to those who lost their 11-digit unique identification number card during ethnic clashes in Manipur due to large-scale displacement that followed the violence.
A bench led by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud directed the deputy director general of UIDAI’s regional office in Guwahati and Manipur’s home secretary to provide Aadhaar cards to displaced persons who misplaced their documents as a result of the violence.
However, the bench underlined that prior necessary verification shall be carried out to ensure that only “genuine citizens” and not “illegal immigrants” get these Aadhaar cards.
Asking the two officers to take necessary steps, the bench said it must be ensured that “Aadhaar cards are provided to all displaced persons who may have lost their Aadhaar cards in the process of displacement, whose records are already available with UIDAI”.
“In other words, it is clarified that UIDAI which would have the biometric details of persons to whom Aadhaar card were already issued would match the claim of any displaced person who has lost the Aadhaar cards with reference to the biometric record available for each particular individual who claims to have lost the Aadhaar cards. Necessary verification shall be carried out before issuing Aadhaar cards,” the court noted.
The court’s order came on a request made by the three-member panel led by former Jammu and Kashmir High Court chief justice Gita Mittal.
Constituted by the top court, this committee is overlooking the rehabilitation of those who have been living in relief camps ever since violence broke out in Manipur between Meiteis and Kukis. The violence has claimed at least 175 lives and displaced more than 70,000.
The committee has so far submitted around 12 reports to the court, detailing the meetings it conducted with the state machinery, along with steps taken to ensure that displaced families residing in temporary shelters get basic facilities and receive counselling to overcome the trauma they suffered due to the violence. In one of these reports, the panel had suggested reissuance of Aadhaar cards to people who have misplaced them.
During the hearing Monday, senior advocate Vibha Datta Makhija, appearing for the panel, impressed upon the court to issue directions in this regard. She agreed with the CJI’s concern over illegal immigrants getting an identity card and said the reissuance exercise should be carried out only after proper verification. “That is why we need help from the authorities to verify the genuineness of the claimants,” she told the bench.
Senior advocate Ranjit Kumar, appearing on behalf of the Manipur government, also raised concerns about illegal immigrants, who may have had an Aadhaar card before violence broke out, getting a new one.
To this, the CJI said the court was not in favour of passing a general direction. “That is why we have said a proper verification will be carried out,” he emphasised.
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Complaint against bar association
In the same hearing, the court also directed the Manipur High Court Bar Association not to prevent any lawyer, irrespective of the community he or she belongs to, from appearing in court.
Told by the bar association president, who was present in court, that there was no prohibition on advocates based on their affiliations, the bench asked him to submit a tabulated statement with order, dates and names of the advocates who appeared before the high court since ethnic violence broke out in the state in May this year.
“This is to convince us. Show that all community lawyers appeared. You can give us a bunch of orders also to show that members of the bar are not being prevented from appearing based on religious or any other affiliations,” the CJI said.
The court also directed the Manipur High Court to operationalise video conferencing or online hearing facility, if not yet done, within one week. It said this facility should also be made available in all the courts falling in Manipur’s nine judicial districts.
These directions were issued in response to submissions made by a few lawyers who claimed they were not being allowed to appear before the high court to espouse cases related to ethnic violence in the state. They even complained that the president of the bar association himself stopped lawyers from a particular community from appearing.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)