Aadhaar no necessity for vaccination: Centre tells SC

New Delhi: The Union government has informed Supreme Court on Monday that updating Aadhar card details on the CO-WIN portal is not necessary for Covid-19 vaccination, Asian News International reported.

Doing away with the public interest litigation (PIL) that claimed certain vaccine centres insisted on Aadhar Card details, the Supreme Court bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and Surya Kant told the vaccination authorities not to press Aadhar cards as the only means of identification at vaccine centres.

The bench said that the affidavit filed by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW)on the petition specified that the Aadhaar card is not mandatory for CO-WIN registration. All concerned authorities shall pursue the health ministry's policy, the bench ruled.

Further, the ministry's advocate told the court that Aadhaar is not only the pre-requisite for vaccination and claimed that 87 people without any identity card had been immunised in the country.

The PIL had sought the court to direct the Electronics and Information Technology to make necessary updates to the CO-WIN portal to facilitate the relief the litigation sought from the court. It also demanded the government to work on the portal to make it maximum user-friendly and accessible to all citizens of India.

A Pune based lawyer and activist, Siddharthshankar Sharma, filed the PIL, which further stated that in contrast to the practical actions of MoHFW, it had recently directed authorities to vaccinate persons who do not even have any one of the prescribed photo identity cards as mandated by the CO-WIN portal.