'As Per Puttaswamy Judgment, Production of Aaadhar Not Mandatory': Delhi Govt Files Affidavit In PIL Seeking Aadhar Linkage With Property Papers

Filed by Ashwini Upadhyay, the petition seeks directions to be issued to both the governments to take appropriate steps to link movable and immovable property documents of citizens with their Aadhaar number to curb corruption, black money generation and benami transaction.

The petitioner believes that linking property documents with Aadhaar will help in curbing corruption as black money holders would be forced to declare their unaudited movable and immovable properties and it will take years to generate that amount of benami property again.

In its affidavit, the Delhi Government has mentioned that as per the law laid down by the Supreme Court in K.S. Puttaswamy v. Union of India, mandatory production of Aadhar details may only be insisted upon welfare schemes. Since, the subject matter of the present petition doesn't entail a welfare scheme, requirement of Aadhar can only be optional.

The affidavit also goes on to mention that production of Aadhar number is not a mandatory requirement for registration of property documents, as no such stipulation has been made in the Registration Act of 1908.

'While Aadhar is one of the documents which executants of conveyance deeds are required to submit as proof of identity for registration of properties at sub-registrar's office, however the same, as on date, is only an optional requirement', the affidavit mentions.

The affidavits filed by both the Delhi Government and the Central Government could not be argued before the Division Bench of Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice Hari Shankar as the petitioner sought an adjournment till February.

Delhi Government in this matter is represented by Additional Standing Counsel for GNCTD, Sanjoy Ghose