Telangana High Court orders deletion of Aadhaar clause from land registration forms

HYDERABAD: A division bench of the Telangana High Court, comprising Chief Justice Raghavendra Singh Chauhan and Justice B. Vijaysen Reddy, directed the state government that it shall not ask for the Aadhaar number under any form for the purpose of slot booking for registration of non-agriculture properties and seeking of Property Tax Index Number.

As identity proof, the government can ask the buyer or seller any other identification issued by the government.

The court directed that all references to Aadhaar numbers should be deleted from the registration manual and from the software. The court asked the government to go ahead with the registration of the non-agriculture properties, but there should be no demand for Aadhaar details.

The bench was dealing with a batch of eight petitions related to the Dharani portal.

The court found fault with the affidavit of Chief Secretary, who had stated that an applicant providing Aadhaar details is optional whereas Advocate General B.S. Prasad, on the last date of hearing, gave an undertaking that Aadhaar details will not be asked. Now, the state with a clever ploy is seeking Aadhaar details, which is a clear violation of the undertaking, observed Justice Chauhan.

Once, the government has given an undertaking to that effect it ought to have modified the manual, enabling a person seeking a slot booking and for seeking PTIN. Further, for slot bookings also, the manual clearly says that the buyer, seller and the witnesses have to provide their Aadhaar details and this is in violation of the government’s own undertaking, observed the CJ.

While adjourning the hearing on the PILs, the Chief Justice asked the government to delete all references to caste, social category and Aadhaar numbers of family members. This also applies to application forms for PTIN.