LHC orders NADRA to correct CNIC number

The Lahore High Court has directed the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) to correct the final digit of a citizen’s Computerised National Identity Card (CNIC) number after his gender was incorrectly recorded as female in official records.

Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani dismissed NADRA’s appeal and upheld the decisions of the lower courts in the case involving citizen Sajid Maqsood. The court observed that the citizen’s record had initially identified him as female before the error was later corrected.

During the hearing, the court noted that NADRA had subsequently issued a new identity card after correcting the citizen’s gender. However, the authority did not change the final digit of his CNIC number. As a result, records maintained by various institutions continued to identify the citizen as female.

The court observed that NADRA had failed to establish any clear legal restriction preventing the correction of the identity number. It said an administrative or technical error could not be allowed to continue indefinitely when it was causing problems for a citizen.

Justice Kayani stated that if changing the identity number was legally necessary, NADRA should issue a new number rather than allowing conflicting records to persist.

The court further directed NADRA to transfer the citizen’s previous records to the new identity number. This, it said, would prevent the creation of a separate or duplicate identity for the same person.

The court also pointed out the need to review and amend the relevant legal framework governing the issuance and alteration of identity numbers so that similar cases can be dealt with more effectively in the future.

NADRA has been directed to implement the court’s order and submit a compliance report within 60 days.