People will no longer be able to use their Aadhaar cards to get birth certificates as the document will now not be accepted as a proof of birth in Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra. The Planning Department in UP and State Revenue Department in Maharashtra issued orders on Friday, clarifying that the Aadhaar cards will only be valid as identity documents and not as proof of birth.
The Uttar Pradesh Planning Department said it will not accept Aadhaar cards as a birth certificate or proof of date of birth.
“No birth certificate is attached to the Aadhaar card; therefore, it cannot be considered a birth certificate,” said Amit Singh Bansal, Special Secretary of the Planning Department, in the order to all departments.
What Maharashtra’s order said
In Maharashtra, the state revenue department went a step further and said that all birth certificates made only through the Aadhaar card after the August 2023 amendment in Act will be cancelled. The government said the Aadhaar card will not be considered as a document for making a delayed birth certificate in the state.
“The government has taken this decision to stop fake birth certificates and death certificates being used for illegal purposes,” the order said.
Revenue Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule has ordered the cancellation of all suspicious certificates issued using Aadhaar cards. Along with this, the department has also instructed officials to take action against the officers who have issued these certificates till now. The Revenue Department has issued a 16-point verification guideline to all Tehsildars, Sub-Divisional Officers, District Commissioners, and Divisional Commissioners.
Are the orders linked to SIR?
There is no clarity if the orders are linked to the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls, but the timing does hint at the same. There has been a long-standing contention between the Election Commission of India (ECI) and the parties opposing the manner of SIR over the role of Aadhaar cards.
The ECI did not include the Aadhaar card in the list of documents one can show to prove his citizenship during the SIR exercise in Bihar. However, on the suggestion of the Supreme Court, the poll panel included the same but with the clarification that it would only be used as an identity proof.
As the SIR in other states stands challenged in the SC, the state government seems to be moving in the same line steadily to keep Aadhaar only as an identity document.