Aadhaar not must for NEET, other exams

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed the CBSE not to make Aadhaar number mandatory for enrolment of students appearing in NEET 2018 and other all India exams. A five-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra directed the CBSE to upload the information on their website.

Earlier in the day, UIDAI had told the apex court that it has not authorised CBSE to mandatorily take Aadhaar number of students to get themselves enrolled for appearing in NEET 2018 examination. Attorney General K K Venugopal had said he has instructions from Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) that like in Jammu and Kashmir, Meghalaya and Assam other identity proofs like passport, voter card and ration card can be used by the CBSE for enrolling the students in the examination.   

The UIDAI's remarks came on a plea challenging the decision of CBSE seeking mandatorily the Aadhaar number or Aadhaar enrolment number from students who are aspiring to take up the NEET 2018 examination. The Gujarat High Court had dismissed the plea on February 27. The appeal in Supreme Court challenges the order of Gujarat High Court.