In yet another case of Aadhaar imposition, the staff at the Madras High Court refused to accept an NGOs writ petition since the petitioner did not submit his Aadhaar card.
Padam Narayanan, Director of Change India, was submitting his writ petition at the Madras High Court on Thursday when he was asked to give his Aadhaar card as address proof.
When he questioned this, he was repeatedly harangued by the clerical staff at the court, who insisted that he give only an Aadhaar card and no other proof of address.
Speaking to TNM, Padam Narayanan said, “They have not accepted my petition at the clerical level. There was one judgement that we should give address proof when we file a petition. But at the clerical level they keep on insisting we submit our Aadhaar cards. Now I am trying to approach them at the higher level and tell them that they should accept any address proof. They cannot insist only on an Aadhaar card because the Supreme Court is still hearing the case. They have to give proper instructions to the clerks. They should not harass petitioners like us by asking only for Aadhaar.”
The Madras High Court had earlier issued a judgement laying down the procedure for filing a vakalatnama, or a document to appoint lawyers, which will be applicable for filing cases before all courts/ tribunals in Tamil Nadu. This was done in a bid to avoid fraud and the filing of fake documents.
“I don’t think at the higher level they would have mentioned that clerks insist on Aadhaar specifically, but at the lower level they are insisting on only that ID proof. I will try to mention it to the Registrar General and tell him to give instructions that they should accept any address proof. I will deal with them and tell them any address proof is okay. This is not only for me, but for other people also,” says Padam Narayanan.