The Registrar General of the Punjab & Haryana High Court has issued a circular to all district and sessions courts in Punjab, Haryana and the Union Territory of Chandigarh, directing them to collect the Aadhaar numbers of parties while entering cases in the court docket.

This directive comes after the Executive Committee of the High Court, in a meeting on July 17, decided to go ahead with the move. The circular was subsequently issued on July 27.

The operative part of the directive requests Advocates to inform their clients that they have to provide their Aadhaar numbers, which will be uploaded by court officials in the Court Information System. The circular states,

“Directions be issued to all the District and Sessions Judges in the States of Punjab, Haryana and U.T. Chandigarh for directing the officials concerned to start capturing/entering the Aadhaar Number of the parties while entering the cases in CIS 2.0. The members of the Bar may be requested to provide the Aadhaar number for the aforesaid purpose.”

This is the first time that courts will be collecting Aadhaar numbers mandatorily.

The Punjab & Haryana High Court’s directive is silent on whether cases would not be allowed to be filed if these numbers are not provided by parties.

Read the circular: