SC: Aadhaar cannot be authoritative date of birth proof

NEW DELHI: Observing that Aadhaar is not an authoritative proof for date of birth , SC on Thursday set aside a Punjab and Haryana HC order which had relied on Aadhaar for deciding the age of a victim for calculating the amount of compensation in a road accident case.

A bench of Justices Sanjay Karol and Ujjal Bhuyan saidif there are reliable age documents, then they should be considered.

It approved the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal 's (MACT) decision to rely upon School Leaving Certificate for age determination as there was a difference in date of birth on the two documents.

The court noted that UIDAI by way of its circular in 2023, had stated, in reference to an office memorandum issued by the electronics and information technology ministry, that an Aadhaar card, while can be used to establish identity, is not per se proof of date of birth. The card has not been relied upon by various HCs as proof for date of birth, SC said.

"That being the position, as it stands with respect to determination of age, we have no hesitation in accepting contention of claimant-appellants, based on School Leaving Certificate. Thus, we find no error in the learned MACT determination of age based on the School Leaving Certificate," bench said.