‘Aadhar card is not valid for date of birth’- The Punjab and Haryana High Court

The Punjab and Haryana High Court’s decision to accept an Aadhaar card as proof of age for determining a road accident victim’s eligibility for compensation was overturned by the Supreme Court on Thursday. Accordingly, a bench made up of Justices Sanjay Karol and Ujjal Bhuyan stated that, in accordance with Section 94 of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, the deceased’s age had to be calculated from the date of birth listed on the school leaving certificate.

“We find that the Unique Identification Authority of India, by way of its circular number 8 of 2023, has stated, in reference to an office memorandum issued by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology dated December 20, 2018, that an Aadhaar Card, while can be used to establish identity, is not per se proof of date of birth,” noted the bench.

Regarding the age determination, the top court accepted the claimant-appellants’ argument and maintained the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal’s (MACT) ruling, which determined the deceased’s age based on his school leaving certificate. The family of a guy who lost his life in a traffic accident in 2015 filed an appeal with the highest court.

The high court lowered the Rs 19.35 lakh compensation that MACT, Rohtak had granted to Rs 9.22 lakh after pointing out that the MACT had incorrectly used the age multiplier to calculate the amount.The deceased’s age of 47 was determined by the high court using his Aadhaar card.

According to the deceased’s school leave certificate, he was 45 years old at the time of his death, hence the family argued that the High Court erred in estimating his age based on his Aadhaar card.