Marital status doesn’t eclipse right to privacy: Karnataka HC

A division bench of the high court has said that the relationship by marriage neither eclipses the right to privacy of an Aadhaar card number holder nor do away with the procedural right guaranteed under Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits & Services) Act, 2016.

In the instant case before the bench, a wife had sought information contained in the Aadhaar Card of her husband.

The wife, a resident of Hubballi, got married in November 2005 and the couple has a girl child. In the proceedings initiated by her against her husband, the family court had awarded Rs 10,000 maintenance to her and another Rs 5,000 to their daughter. When this order could not be enforced as the husband’s whereabouts were not ascertainable, she moved the UIDAI under RTI Act.

On February 25, 2021, her application was rejected by stating that there could be no disclosure of such information and matter has to be decided by a judge of the high court in terms of Section 33 of the Aadhaar Act. The wife moved the high court and on February 8, 2023, the single bench directed for considering her application after issuing notice to the husband.

The UIDAI moved the division bench challenging this order. It was contended that adherence to section 33 (1) of the Aadhaar Act is mandatory and that any disclosure can be made only after an order passed by a judge of the high court in terms of the direction issued by the Apex Court.

On the other hand, it was argued on behalf of the wife that after the marriage, the relationship of husband and wife results in merging of the identity of both and hence, there could be no objection divulging the information of the spouse at the instance of the other spouse. The restrictions about third parties seeking information cannot be invoked in the case, it was argued.

The division bench comprising Justice S Sunil Dutt Yadav and Justice Vijayakumar A Patil noted that the order passed by the apex court in K S Puttaswamy case clearly hold that a person whose information is sought to be divulged has right to put-forth his case before such disclosure in terms of section 33(1) of the Aadhaar Act.

“The right to privacy of Aadhaar number holder preserves the autonomy of the individual’s right to privacy which is conferred primacy and admits of no exception under the statutory scheme. The relationship by marriage which is a union of two partners does not eclipse the right to privacy which is the right of an individual and the autonomy of such individual’s right stands recognized and protected by the procedure of hearing contemplated under Section 33. The marriage by itself does not do away with the procedural right of hearing conferred under Section 33 of Aadhaar Act,” the bench said.

The bench has remitted the matter to the single judge for fresh consideration, wherein the husband is to be arrayed as a respondent.