India Court Orders Biometric Aadhaar for GST Registration

The Delhi High Court has mandated biometric Aadhaar authentication for all Goods and Services Tax (GST) registrations nationwide, issuing an interim order to combat widespread fraudulent registrations. The directive, dated September 8, 2026, aims to prevent the misuse of stolen or compromised PAN and Aadhaar details to swindle money. The court's decision stemmed from petitions alleging that fraudulent GST registrations were being obtained using the identities of unsuspecting citizens. One petitioner, Neha, reported that two GST registrations were fraudulently created using her credentials without her knowledge, leading to over 4.46 crore being siphoned from her savings account. After authorities failed to act on her complaints, she approached the High Court. During earlier hearings, the court had expressed significant concern over the prevalence of fake GST registrations, suggesting the GST regime had created more problems than it solved. The court noted that despite a year passing since a statement was made in the Rajya Sabha, the implementation of biometric Aadhaar authentication for GST registration had not been fully realized.