Lahore High Court Orders NADRA to Correct Last Digit of Citizen’s CNIC Number

LAHORE:The Lahore High Court has directed the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) to correct the last digit of a citizen’s Computerised National Identity Card (CNIC) number.

Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani dismissed NADRA’s appeal and upheld the decisions of the lower courts in the case.

During the hearing, the court was informed that the record of citizen Sajid Maqsood had initially listed the person as female and was later corrected. Although NADRA issued a new CNIC after correcting the record, the final digit of the identity card number was not changed, resulting in the citizen’s gender continuing to appear as female in the records of various institutions.

The court observed that NADRA had failed to establish any clear legal prohibition against correcting the error. It ruled that an error could not be maintained indefinitely merely on administrative or technical grounds.

The court further directed that if a change in the identity number was necessary, a new CNIC number should be issued.

It ordered that the citizen’s previous records be transferred to the new number to prevent the creation of a separate identity.

The court also observed that amendments to the law governing the issuance of identity numbers may be necessary.

NADRA has been directed to submit a compliance report to the Lahore High Court within **60 days**.