Pti

Bhubaneswar/New Delhi: In what could be a relief for lakhs of students across India, the Supreme Court today directed the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) not to make Aadhaar number mandatory for enrollment of students appearing in the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) 2018 and other all-India exams.

A five-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra directed the central board to upload the directive on their website.

Earlier in the day, UIDAI had told the apex court that it has not authorised CBSE to mandatorily take the Aadhaar number of students to get them enrolled for appearing in the NEET 2018 examination.

Attorney-General K K Venugopal had said that he had instructions from the 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 students in the examination.

The UIDAI’s remarks came on a plea challenging the decision of CBSE seeking mandatory Aadhaar number or Aadhaar enrollment number from students who are aspiring to take the NEET 2018 examination. The Gujarat High Court had dismissed the plea on February 27.

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