Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal aadhaar pension widows aadhar Photo Credit: BCCL Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal

New Delhi: The Delhi state government has decided to delink the requirement of an Aadhaar card to access benefits due to widows and pensioners. In a message on Twitter, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said: “Lot of people suffering due to inability of banks to link adhar wid bank account. Today, Cabinet decided to delink adhar from widow n age old pension.”

In March, the Supreme Court had questioned the mandatory use of the Aadhaar for drawing of pensions by retired government employees. Aadhaar, a 12-digit personal identification number, is issued by the Unique Identification Authority of India or UIDAI.

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“Pension is an entitlement and not a benefit under social schemes. How is it included under section 7 of the Aadhaar Act, 2016?” Justice AK Sikri asked. “Many pensioners live with children settled abroad. Can such category of pensioners be told that would not be granted pension unless they have aadhaar card?”

Another member of the bench, Justice D Y Chandrachud, went on to give the example of his late father, the former Chief Justice of India Y V Chandrachud, saying only he would operate the pension account -- so there was no question of anyone else operating it. "There are those old persons whose biometrics do not match with the Aadhaar data. Where do they go?” Justice Chandrachud said. “Government must explain steps being taken to eliminate financial exclusion of legitimate beneficiaries.”

