In a significant observation, the Supreme Court of India on Tuesday stated that it is not the appropriate judicial forum to investigate claims regarding the widespread fraudulent issuance and misuse of Aadhaar cards. The Court emphasized that addressing such systemic misuse falls under the statutory and administrative purview of the Union government.
A bench comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi, and Justice Vipin Pancholi made these remarks while hearing a matter concerning the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in the state of West Bengal.
The issue arose when advocate Ashwini Upadhyay, who is also a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), approached the court seeking further clarification regarding the acceptance and use of Aadhaar cards in the West Bengal SIR process.
During the hearing, Upadhyay alleged that Aadhaar cards are being fraudulently issued on a massive scale in West Bengal, specifically claiming that they are being provided to Rohingyas to manipulate the electoral rolls.
Declining to initiate a factual investigation into the allegations, the Supreme Court noted that such large-scale systemic issues require legislative and statutory remedies rather than judicial intervention.
Justice Joymalya Bagchi advised the petitioner that the appropriate legal recourse would be to submit a representation to the Union of India to amend relevant legislation, including the Representation of the People Act.
Drawing a strict line between identity and citizenship, Justice Bagchi observed:
“If Aadhaar is fraudulently procured on industrial scale, it has to be statutorily regulated. Aadhaar was brought in as a document to act as an identity proof and we have to acknowledge that. There is no question of citizenship being canvassed on Aadhaar.”
Concurring with this position, CJI Surya Kant reiterated that the judiciary is ill-equipped to conduct the extensive fact-finding required for such claims.
“This needs a deeper probe and the court is not a forum for this,” the CJI remarked.
The present plea for clarification traces its roots to a prior Supreme Court directive issued in September 2025. In that order, the Court had directed the Election Commission of India (ECI) and its authorities to accept the Aadhaar Card as proof of identity for the inclusion or exclusion of individuals in the revised voter list of Bihar.
The Court had legally anchored this directive in Section 23(4) of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, noting that Aadhaar is legally enumerated as a valid document for establishing an individual’s identity.
Establishing Aadhaar as the “12th document” for voter verification, the Court had previously ordered:
“Aadhaar Card, for this purpose, shall be treated as the 12th document by the Authorities. It is, however, made clear that the authorities shall be entitled to verify the authenticity and genuinity of the Aadhaar Card, like any of the other enumerated documents, by seeking further proof/documents.”
By maintaining this legal stance, the Supreme Court has made it clear that while Aadhaar remains a valid statutory document for identity verification under electoral laws, the burden of preventing its “industrial scale” fraudulent procurement lies with the executive and legislative branches of the Union Government.
