The governments of Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra have said that Aadhaar cards will no longer be accepted as a birth certificate or as proof of date of birth, and both states have issued official orders telling departments to stop treating Aadhaar as a valid birth record.

All birth certificates made after the Births and Deaths Registration Amendment Act 2023, using Aadhaar as the only proof, will now be cancelled, as reported.

The state governments said that Aadhaar does not contain an official birth certificate inside it, and they added that it only shows basic identity details and not hospital or government records of birth, which means it cannot be used as legal proof of birth.

Maharashtra’s Revenue Department has brought in a 16-point verification process for birth-related documents, and it also said that orders given by deputy tehsildars after the August 2023 amendment must be withdrawn and checked again by competent authorities or the district collector. The state government has told officials to take action against officers who issued birth certificates using Aadhaar alone.

In Uttar Pradesh, the Planning Department has told all departments that Aadhaar cannot be treated as a birth certificate because it does not contain any birth-related document, as reported by news agency ANI. This order was issued by Amit Singh Bansal, special secretary in the Planning Department.

This step has come after Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath asked officials to act strictly against illegal immigrants.

He said that maintaining law and order, national security, and social harmony is the top priority of the state, and all districts have been asked to identify illegal immigrants and take action according to the rules. Temporary detention centres will be created in every district to hold foreigners until their verification is completed, and those found to be illegal immigrants will be deported through proper procedures.

Uttar Pradesh shares an open border with Nepal, which allows free movement for citizens of both countries. But people from other countries must undergo checks, and due to these security concerns, the state wants stronger and more reliable birth documents, which has become a key reason why Aadhaar cannot be used as proof of birth.

This new decision comes even though the Supreme Court allowed the use of Aadhaar for identity verification earlier this year, but that permission was for a very different purpose.

In September, the Supreme Court asked the Election Commission to treat the Aadhaar card as the 12th document that can be used as identity proof for adding a name to the revised voters' list of Bihar. However, EC refused to accept the Aadhaar card as conclusive proof of citizenship, stating that it is proof of identity, not citizenship.