The Bombay High Court has criticised the Unique Identification Authority of India for “unnecessary hardship” to citizens, denial of access to services and avoidable litigation due to technical irregularities in Aadhaar records.
The UIDAI is a statutory body set up under the 2016 Aadhaar Act to issue 12-digit unique identity numbers to residents of India.
In an order passed on May 6, a bench of Justices Ravindra V Ghuge and Hiten S Venegavkar issued a set of directives to the statutory body to ensure that citizens are not unfairly burdened due to biometric anomalies or other technical irregularities in their Aadhaar records.
The bench remarked that “an eligible resident cannot be left remediless merely because an earlier biometric record is defective, particularly where there is no allegation of fraud or impersonation by the petitioners.”
Noting that the integrity of the Aadhaar database is a matter of public importance, the bench said that the implementation of the statutory framework must remain citizen-centric, facilitative and constitutionally compliant.
The order was issued on a petition filed by 19-year-old twin brothers, Rohit and Rahul Nikalje.
The petitioners said that they had been issued Aadhaar cards in 2012, when they were minors. In 2022, they attempted to update their biometrics but were met with a series of inconsistent administrative communications.
The twin brothers were first told to update their biometrics and then to apply for cancellation. They were then informed that the cancellation process was revoked and their numbers were suspended.
In its order, the court noted that the grievance is that the petitioners had been moved from one administrative process to another without a final resolution. It added that the law does not allow for an “indefinite administrative limbo”.
The bench said that if the childhood biometrics were incorrect, the fault cannot be fastened upon the twin brothers. It directed the petitioners to submit fresh enrolment applications within 15 days and also ordered UIDAI to process these applications in accordance with the law within four weeks.
In its order, the bench also said that it is increasingly noticing cases where citizens are compelled to approach constitutional courts on account of biometric mismatch, failed biometric updation, deactivation, suspension, omission, cancellation or technical irregularities in Aadhaar record.
“In several such cases, genuine residents are made to repeatedly visit different offices and authorities without any clear resolution or effective guidance regarding the procedure required to rectify their Aadhaar records,” the court said.
It added that such situations result in unnecessary hardship, denial of access to essential services and avoidable litigation.
In its recommendations, the court asked UIDAI to provide written guidance on remedies, maintain facilitation centers and ensure citizens are not subjected to repeated, uninformed office visits to reduce avoidable hardships for genuine residents.
The bench added that the statutory body must also decide on applications within four weeks.
Written by Leah Thomas. Edited by Neerad Pandharipande
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