A 17-year-old was denied admission by St. Xavier’s College in Mumbai for not having Aadhaar, which is mandatory under a state law.
Seventeen-year-old Issac John’s admission to the prestigious St. Xavier’s College in Mumbai will be decided by the Supreme Court. He has the required grades and qualifications but for colleges in Maharashtra, that’s not enough. Issac was denied admission for not having an Aadhaar card.
According to a 2015 state law, it is mandatory for all educational institutions to collect Aadhaar numbers of students. John Abraham, Issac’s father, has moved the top court after the Bombay high court dismissed his case.
A bench headed by Justice Madan B. Lokur has now issued notice to the Maharashtra government seeking its response within two weeks.
The state law linking Aadhaar to school and college admissions has also been challenged separately in the Bombay High Court. In an interim order in October last year, the high court had said that no student can be penalised for not possessing Aadhaar.
But in Issac’s case, the high court had passed a single-line order stating that Issac was “adamant in not obtaining Aadhaar” before dismissing his case.
The father-son duo insists that making Aadhaar mandatory for a minor seeking admission to school or college is an absolute violation of fundamental rights.
Abraham says he met the principal of St. Xavier’s personally but had no option but to send legal notices to the college later.
“I was told to either apply for Aadhaar or get a direction from the high court stating that my son is entitled to get admission without Aadhaar,” Abraham said in his petition.
The apex court is yet to decide on the constitutional validity of Aadhaar. It has been challenged on several grounds, including that it is exclusionary and seeks minors who cannot make informed decisions to sign up.