Delhi High Court Seeks Response Of Centre, UIDAI On Plea Seeking Mechanism For Issuing New Aadhar Numbers To Existing Users

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday sought response of the Centre and Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) in a plea seeking mechanism and procedure for issuance of new Aadhar numbers to existing users as per Section 23 (n) of the Aadhaar (Targeted delivery of financial and other subsidies and service) Act, 2016.

Justice Rekha Palli issued notice on a plea filed by a businessman who had come to know earlier this year that his Aadhar card number has been linked with overseas entities, thereby apprehending that someone has misused his identity.

Raising concern about the impending danger that his name can be used to carry out unlawful activities such as money laundering, fraud, forgery, etc., the petition seeks directions on the Centre and UIDAI to issue new Aadhaar card number to the Petitioner in compliance with the clause (n) of Section 23 of the Act.

"Once if his Aadhar information has already been compromised in public domain, the damage cannot be undone without issuing him a new Aadhar and cancelling his old Aadhar card. The same is not only vital for the Petitioner but also required to prevent any perpetrators in India or overseas to use this information to commit some illegality," the plea avers.

Filed through Advocates Sonal Anand and Surbhi Singh, the plea states that privacy is vital to every resident of the country and shall never be compromised in any manner.

"The data breaches have caused severe mental agony and emotional suffering to the Petitioner, as he fears potential misuse of his data at the hands of unscrupulous third parties," the plea states.

The matter will now be heard on September 9.

Case Title: Rajan Arora v. UOI & Anr.

Case No.: W.P.(C) 6447/2021