Delhi High Court seeks response from Central government, UIDAI on petition seeking issuance of new Aadhaar card

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday sought the response of the Central government and the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) on a plea by a business person seeking directions for issuance of a new Aadhaar card to him (Rajan Arora v. Union of India)..The Petitioner, Rajan Arora, sought new Aadhaar card on the ground that his current Aadhaar number was compromised after it was illegally linked with two overseas entities without his authorisation.Single-judge Justice Rekha Palli issued notice to the Central government and posted the case for further consideration on September 9. .The petitioner, who is involved in the business of garment manufacture and export, submitted that he received information through one of his clients based in Europe, that his Aadhaar has been linked with some other entity. The petitioner reached out to the concerned overseas entities through a letter but received invasive and vague response from them, it was pointed out."Instead of removing his name and Aadhaar Card No. they sent a frivolous and vague reply to the letter served. Further in any case even removal of his name/linkage of his Aadhaar number will not resolve his concerns given the fact that his personal information qua his Aadhaar card has already been compromised. Even if removed from the current entities, it could be linked to some other entities of misused for some other unlawful activities," the plea said.He raised concerns regarding identity theft since he has no association with these entities whatsoever."Petitioner is distressed about impending danger that his name can be used to carry out unlawful activities such as money laundering, fraud, forgery, etc," the plea said. Further, it was contended that as a part of their due diligence, most of the buyers of the products of the companies owned by the petitioner, require him to issue a certificate of his directorship / ownership in various entities which is then verified by them.These buyers, the petitioner submitted, are unwilling to deal with companies/entities whose controlling officials are involved in any overseas entities. Hence, his Aadhaar number being linked to some overseas entities has put the business of the petitioner in a serious jeopardy.The petitioner also wrote to the UIDAI asking them to issue a fresh Aadhaar card and also made visits to the office of UIDAI. However, he was told that there is no process defined by UIDAI to issue a new Aadhar number to a citizen once it has been issued..The petitioner contended that the Aadhaar Act itself provides for devising a process for such eventuality and the response by UIDAI is against the Aadhaar Act. "Section 23 (n) of the Aadhaar (Targeted delivery of Financial and other subsidies, benefits and services) Act, 2016 specifically mandates process be devised for the same which the Respondent No. 2 has failed to do compelling the Petitioner to file the present Petition," the plea stated.