Himachal Pradesh High Court
Naresh Kumar vs Kushma Kumar And Others. on 30 October, 2023
Bench: Rakesh Kainthla
Naresh Kumar vs Kushma Kumar and others.
.
CMP No. No. 14081 of 2023
in FAO No. 522 of 2009
Reserved on 17.10.2023
30.10.2023 Present: Mr. RajniKumari, Advocate, for non-
r applicant/appellant.
Mr. Vinod Kumar Thakur, Advocate, for the
applicant/respondent no.3.
The applicant has filed the present
application seeking the release of the amount. It has
been asserted that the Court had ordered the payment of
₹ 4,00,000/- (Four Lacs) on 11.12.2015. The amount has
been deposited in the Court. The share of claimants no.
1, 2 and 4 has already been released. The applicant was a
minor and has attained majority. The copy of the
Aadhar card(Annexure A-2) is annexed as proof of age;
therefore, the present application seeking the release of
the amount.
2. No reply to the application was filed.
3. Heard.
4. The applicant has filed a copy of his Aadhar
card as proof of his age. The question whether a copy of
an Aadhar card can be considered as proof of age or not
has been considered by various High Courts. In
ParvatiKumari v. State of U.P., 2019 SCC OnLine All 7085,
.
the Allahabad High Court issued a notice to the Unique
Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), and an
affidavit filed before the Allahabad High Court that
Aadhar card is only a proof of identity. After considering
the affidavit and other provisions of law. Allahabad
High Court held that the Aadhar Card is not proof of
date of birth and address as this information is supplied
by the person in whose favourthe Aadhar Card is issued.
It was observed:-
"23. From the above, we can safely deduce that
firstly Aadhaar Card is a document providing a
conclusive connection between the photograph of
the Aadhaar Card holder, his fingerprints and iris
scan details, with the Aadhaar Number.
24. Secondly, we clearly deduce from the above
that the other information namely name, date of
birth, gender and address as entered in the
Aadhaar Card, is furnished by the Aadhaar
applicant at the time of
authentication/enrolment.
25. Although the regulations provide for the
applicant to rely on a set of documents for giving
information in regard to name, address and proof
of date of birth, however, because the said
information is merely given by the applicant, and
is not authenticated by UIDAI at the time of
authentication, the Aadhaar Card cannot be
conclusive proof in regard to those entries.
26. It thus follows that in case of a dispute
regarding the correctness of date of birth etc., the
burden of proof lies with the
resident/applicant/Aadhaar Card holder.
27. From the above conclusion it stands
demonstrated that in case a person relies on
entries in an Aadhaar Card in regard to address,
.
date of birth etc., on the basis of the Aadhaar
Card, under the Evidence Act, it cannot be
said/that the entries in those regards are
conclusive proof of those facts. If question in
these regards arises, the source of giving date of
birth etc., are required to be verified in the
process of investigation in criminal cases."
5. The Punjab & Haryana High Court also held in
Navdeep Singh v. State of Punjab, 2021 SCC OnLine P&H
4553, that an Aadhar Card cannot be considered as firm
proof of age. It was observed:
"5. Since there is no firm proof of age of either of
the petitioners other than their Aadhar Cards,
which is actually not a firm proof of age, if any of
the petitioners are found to be below the
marriageable age in terms of the provisions of the
Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006, this
order shall not be construed to be a bar on any
proceedings initiated under that Act, the offences
committed under that Act being cognizable in
terms of Section 15 thereof."
6. Similarly, inManoj Kumar Yadav v. State of M.P.,
2023 SCC OnLine MP 1919,Madhya Pradesh High Court
held that an Aadhar Card cannot be used to determine
the age under the Juvenile Justice Act. It was observed;
"8. Therefore, in view of the statutory provisions
available and there being no provision for taking
into consideration the Aadhar card as a proof of
age for presumption and determination of age,
prescribed under Section 94 of the Act of 2015, I
am of the opinion that there is no illegality in the
impugned order, calling for interference in the
revisional jurisdiction of this High Court."
7. A similar view was also taken in Sofikul Islam v.
State of Kerala, 2022 SCC OnLine Ker 5814.
8. No contrary judgment was brought to the notice
.
of this Court. Hence, the Aadhar Card cannot be taken as proof
of age and in the absence of any valid proof of age, there is
nothing to show that the applicant has attained majority.
Thus, the money cannot be released to the applicant.
9. In view of the above, the application fails and the
same is dismissed.
(Rakesh Kainthla)
Judge
October 30,2023
(ravinder)
.
