Aadhaar not must, 87 lakh given jabs without ID, government tells SC

NEW DELHI: ‘Sadhus and saints’ of all religions do not require any identity proof to get vaccinated against Covid-19, the Union government informed the Supreme Court on Monday and reiterated that Aadhaar card is not mandatory for getting registered on CoWIN app.

The Centre informed a bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud and Surya Kant that though the person intending to get vaccinated must produce any one of the nine prescribed identity proofs — Aadhaar card, driving licence, PAN card, passport, pension passbook, NPR Smart card, Voter ID, Ration card, Unique Disability ID or Disability Certificate with picture — “certain categories of persons have been vaccinated without the requirement of any of the nine identity proofs”.

The Union government said, “the categories of persons exempted from production of ID proof for vaccination are nomads (including sadhus/saints from various religions), prison inmates, inmates of mental health institutions, citizens in old age homes, roadside beggars, people residing in rehabilitation centres/camps and any other identified eligible person, who is 18 years or more, who do not possess any of the aforesaid nine photo ID proofs”.

The Centre's counsel Aman Sharma also informed the bench that as on February 2, 2022, a total of nearly 115 crore have registered on CoWIN for vaccination, of which 85.6 crore were by producing Aadhaar card. Persons who have registered without any ID are over 87 lakh, it said.

The bench told the petitioner, who had accused a Maharashtra private vaccination centre of denying him registration for want of Aadhaar card even though he had a valid passport, that since the government policy is not to insist on Aadhaar, individual grievances can’t be dealt by the SC.

The Centre said the ministry of health and family welfare had written to the Maharashtra principal secretary for health and family welfare to take requisite action against the private CVC for denying vaccination despite the petitioner possessing a valid passport.