Soon, High Court to decide if 28A & 29 of Aadhaar Regulation 2016 is ‘manifestly arbitrary’

Soumyadip Mullick, MP, 7 Aug 2024, Kolkata: The Calcutta High Court is soon to decide if Regulation 28A and 29 of the Aadhaar (Enrolment and Update Regulation) 2016, which deals with deactivation and omission of cards, is “manifestly arbitrary” and violates the affected individual’s right to life under Article 21. 

The Bench of Chief Justice TS Sivagnanam and Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharyya on Wednesday was hearing arguments relating to the petition which prayed that these regulations be struck down. 

The petition submitted that several people from marginalised sections of society from across various districts of West Bengal were severely impacted due to the “arbitrary deactivation of Aadhar card” by UIDAI. 

The petitioner’s counsel submitted that “Aadhaar route is not the appropriate route to declare legal or illegal immigrants”. Question was raised about how the Union can determine who is a foreign national through the Aadhaar route. 

“There’s a troika of three laws which determine it (Citizenship Act, Passport Act and Foreigner’s Act),” it was submitted. 

The petition mentioned that Aadhaar number is issued merely to serve as proof of identity to residents and was never intended to intervene or regulate in the subject matter related to citizenship as the main objective of Aadhar since its inception was to provide essential services via public distribution scheme to every resident of India. 

The petitioner’s counsel submitted that under Regulation 29, any case reported or identified as a possible case requiring omission or deactivation may require field inquiry which may include hearing the persons whose Aadhaar number is sought to be omitted or deactivated. 

However, neither such enquiry was made nor any hearing opportunities were given to the affected persons, thus violating Regulation 29. 

Further, no reasons were stated in the notices sent to the affected persons, it was submitted. The counsel also referred to the letter by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in February wherein she had expressed “concerns over indiscriminate deactivation of Aadhaar of SC, ST, OBC in West Bengal without any process”. 

https://www.millenniumpost.in/bengal/bangladeshis-stranded-in-kolkata-worried-about-ongoing-violence-in-their-country-574824?infinitescroll=1