Aadhaar card not valid document for age proof, says Supreme Court

New Delhi, Oct 24: The Supreme Court has overturned a High Court ruling that accepted the date of birth on an Aadhaar Card as the basis for determining the victim's age in a motor accident compensation case.

Justices Sanjay Karol and Ujjal Bhuyan expressed reservations about the Aadhaar Card's validity as age proof, said a report of Live Law. The Court highlighted that the deceased's age should be more reliably established through the date of birth on their school leave certificate, which holds statutory authority under Section 94 of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015.

In this case, the Motor Accidents Claim Tribunal (MACT) initially awarded Rs. 19,35,400, but the High Court reduced it to Rs. 9,22,336, claiming that the MACT had misapplied the age multiplier for the deceased’s legal representatives. The High Court relied on the Aadhaar Card, calculating the deceased’s age as 47 and applying a multiplier of 13.

The appellants challenged this decision, arguing the High Court wrongly referenced the Aadhaar Card. They cited the school leave certificate, which indicated the deceased was 45 years old at the time of the incident, suggesting a multiplier of 14.