Cuttack: Orissa High Court Friday issued notice to the state while taking up a petition challenging the government move to make Aadhaar number mandatory for
farmers.
A bench of Chief Justice Vineet Saran and Justice Bidyut Ranjan Sarangi directed the government to respond in this regard within two weeks.
Sources said, the state government in order to curb large-scale irregularities in paddy procurement has decided to link Aadhaar number to bhulekh (land records) by September this year. The government said if the Aadhaar number is linked to land records, the farmers who want to sell their paddy cannot register for the second time. In this way, it would curb irregularities to the tune of crores of rupees in the paddy procurement.
However, petitioners Radhakanta Bohidar of Mohantipada and Manoj Kumar Sharma of Bareipali in Sambalpur had challenged the decision in the HC. The petitioners stated that 30 per cent of farmers in the state do not have Aadhaar cards. If the rule is implemented, the farmers will be affected and incur huge losses. The decision is against the interest of the farmers, they said.
The petitioners urged the court to quash the decision and direct the state government to extend the deadline of Aadhaar registrations.
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