Letter to Rajasthan Government Against Mandating Aadhaar For COVID-19 Testing

It was brought to our notice that the Rajasthan’s Ministry of Medical, Health and Family welfare vide their guidelines dated 25.07.2020 has made it mandatory to add a person’s Aadhaar details in RT-PCR application during sample collection for COVID-19. 

This decision by the Government of Rajasthan is in violation of the judgment of the Supreme Court in Justice Puttaswamy v. Union of India (2019 (1) SCC 1) wherein it was held that Aadhaar is mandatory only for :

a) filing Income Tax returns; and

b) for availing government subsidies charged upon the Consolidated Fund of India. 

This step by the Government of Rajasthan is in violation of the Puttaswamy judgment, and will exclude people who do not have Aadhaar cards. 

Any step taken by the Government(s) must be constitutionally tenable and in consonance with the law of the land. Through these letters to the Chief Minister of Rajasthan, Minister of Health, and Principal Secretary of Health, we have urged them to withdraw the mandatory requirement of Aadhaar for RT-PCR mobile app when the samples for COVID-19 tests are collected.