‘Only High Court can pass order on sharing Aadhaar data required in police probe’

Bengaluru: In terms of Section 33 of the Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Act, 2016, only the high court can pass an order on sharing or disclosing information, including identity or authentication records, according to the High Court of Karnataka. 

Justice Suraj Govindaraj ruled this while allowing a petition filed for directing the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) to provide Aadhaar location details to assist the investigation in a missing person case. 

“When during the course of investigation by police authority or any investigating authority in the event of usage of Aadhaar card including authentication, etc are required, an application can be made before the high court in terms of Section 33 of the Act of 2016 and the high court could examine the same after providing an opportunity to the UIDAI and pass such orders as just and necessary including providing of details of usage of Aadhaar card and the location where it has been used,” Justice Govindaraj said. Krishnamurthy, a resident of Hubballi, submitted that his elder son had gone missing in December 2019 and an FIR was registered at the Gokul Road police station. There was no lead in the case despite efforts to trace the missing person. 

However, in June 2023, Krishnamurthy learnt about the usage of his son’s Aadhaar and authentication of the transaction. He moved the high court after the UIDAI refused to share the information on the basis of the requisition placed by the jurisdictional police. 

The UIDAI contended that the Aadhaar information is confidential and protected by the right to privacy as per the Supreme Court judgement in the Justice Puttaswamy case and therefore the details cannot be disclosed even to the investigating officer upon request. 

After perusing the provisions, Justice Govindaraj noted that sharing any information, including usage or authentication of Aadhaar card, would either be in terms of Section 29 (the consent of Aadhaar card holder and verification) or in terms of Section 33 where only the high court can pass an order directing the sharing or disclosure of the information. 

“The Aadhaar card of the missing son of the petitioner has been put to use. What is required to be ascertained is to whether the said Aadhaar card has been put to such use by the son of the petitioner or anyone else and the location where the said use has been made so as to further investigate the matter. When there is no such information made available with the jurisdictional police authorities, there is no possibility of such investigation being proceeded with,” Justice Govindaraj said, adding that no infirmity can be found with the UIDAI’s decision refusing to share such records on the police requisition. 

The court directed the UIDAI to furnish to the police only the details of the location where the missing person’s Aadhaar card was used from the time of filing the missing complaint to date. It clarified that besides the location of usage, no other details shall be provided. Police were also directed not to share such information with anyone else, except as required for the purposes of the investigation.