The Supreme Court has clarified that school certificates should be considered the standard for age verification and that decisions should not be based solely on Aadhaar cards. On Thursday, a bench comprising Justices Sanjay Karol and Ujjwal Bhuyan overturned a ruling issued by the Punjab and Haryana High Court, which had accepted the date of birth on an Aadhaar card as valid for determining compensation for a family following the death of an individual in a road accident. This approach led to a reduction in the compensation amount, prompting the affected family to seek justice from the Supreme Court.
The bench reminded that a circular issued by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) and an office memo from the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology both state that Aadhaar cards should not be regarded as documents for age verification. It also noted that the Motor Vehicles Act formally recognizes school certificates as the legitimate means of verifying individuals’ ages.