Gujarat High Court
State Of Gujarat vs Unique Identification Authority Of ... on 27 June, 2025
NEUTRAL CITATION
R/SCR.A/2684/2024 ORDER DATED: 27/06/2025
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IN THE HIGH COURT OF GUJARAT AT AHMEDABAD
R/SPECIAL CRIMINAL APPLICATION (DIRECTION) NO. 2684 of 2024
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STATE OF GUJARAT
Versus
UNIQUE IDENTIFICATION AUTHORITY OF INDIA, UIDAI THROUGH
DEPUTY DIRECTOR
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Appearance:
MS SHRUTI PATHAK, APP for the Applicant(s) No. 1
NOTICE SERVED for the Respondent(s) No. 1
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CORAM:HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE HASMUKH D. SUTHAR
Date : 27/06/2025
ORAL ORDER
[1.0] By way of present petition under Articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution of India read with section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, the petitioner - State of Gujarat has prayed for the following reliefs:
"(B) As it is a mandatory to grant the sanction by this Hon'ble High Court as per the section 33 of the Adhaar Act, 2016, Your Lordships may be pleased to grant appropriate sanction and direction to the Adhaar Authority to provide the details of Adhaar Card of the accused ;
(C) The Hon'ble Court may kindly allow the present petition and issue appropriate orders directing respondents to disclose the information with respect to the Aadhar Card Holder which is sought by the investigating agency for the investigation of the case with C.R. No.11191011230186 of 2023 under Sections 419, 465, 467, 468, 469, 471, 474, 114 and 120(B) of Indian Penal Code. The Hon'ble Court may kindly allow the present petition and issue appropriate orders directing respondents to ascertain the date and place of issuance of Aadhar Cards, date of updation, the documents submitted for creation, change of address, updation and Aadhar Signature from issuing Authority i.e. UIDAI;"
[2.0] Heard learned APP Ms. Shruti Pathak for the petitioner.
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[3.0] Perusing the facts of the case, it appears that the complainant - Unarmed Head Constable has filed an FIR with DCB Police Station, Ahmedabad City against accused persons for the offences punishable under Sections 419, 465, 467, 468, 469, 471, 474, 114 and 120(B), as the accused persons though citizens of Bangladesh have got up their respective identity as Indian citizens by forging their Indian Aadhar Cards, Indian PAN Cards, Indian Election cards and Indian ration cards and thus, committed offence of forgery and cheating.
[3.1] Therefore, for the purpose of identification and/or authentication of the Aadhar Card and other forged Indian documents, it is important to get details of the accused persons which can be obtained from the respondent Authority and for that purpose, the State of Gujarat has filed the present petition as there is bar under Section 28 of the Aadhar Act, 2016.
[4.0] Considering the security and confidentiality of the information as well as bar under Section 29 of the Aadhar Act, 2016 and the right of privacy and the provision, such information can be disclosed only pursuant to the order of the High Court.
[4.1] Perusing the facts of the complaint as well as the petition, it appears that the information of the accused persons who do not belong to India and who have forged Aadhar Card and other material Indian documents and to unearth the truth and for coming to logical end of investigation, information is required. Considering bar under The Aadhar Act, 2016 and Aadhar (Amended) Act and other laws, disclosure of information including the identity, authentication of a person is barred but there is no bar under Section 33 of the Aadhar Act, 2016 and the High Court is competent to pass appropriate order Page 2 of 4 Uploaded by MR. AJAY C MENON(HC00939) on Fri Jun 27 2025 Downloaded on : Mon Jun 30 22:20:58 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION R/SCR.A/2684/2024 ORDER DATED: 27/06/2025 undefined in that regard. At this stage, provisions of sections 28, 29 and 32 of the Aadhar Act, 2016 are required to be referred to, which read as under:
"28. Security and confidentiality of information.- (1) The Authority shall ensure the security of identity information and authentication records of individuals.
(2) Subject to the provisions of this Act, the Authority shall ensure confidentiality of identity information and authentication records of individuals.
(3) The Authority shall take all necessary measures to ensure that the information in the possession or control of the Authority, including information stored in the Central Identities Data Repository, is secured and protected against access, use or disclosure not permitted under this Act or regulations made thereunder, and against accidental or intentional destruction, loss or damage.
(4) Without prejudice to sub-sections (1) and (2), the Authority shall-- (a) adopt and implement appropriate technical and organisational security measures; (b) ensure that the agencies, consultants, advisors or other persons appointed or engaged for performing any function of the Authority under this Act, have in place appropriate technical and organisational security measures for the information; and (c) ensure that the agreements or arrangements entered into with such agencies, consultants, advisors or other persons, impose obligations equivalent to those imposed on the Authority under this Act, and require such agencies, consultants, advisors and other persons to act only on instructions from the Authority.
(5) Notwithstanding anything contained in any other law for the time being in force, and save as otherwise provided in this Act, the Authority or any of its officers or other employees or any agency that maintains the Central Identities Data Repository shall not, whether during his service or thereafter, reveal any information stored in the Central Identities Data Repository or authentication record to anyone:
Provided that an Aadhaar number holder may request the Authority to provide access to his identity information excluding his core biometric information in such manner as may be specified by regulations.
29. Restricting on sharing information.- (1) No core biometric information, collected or created under this Act, shall be-- (a) shared with anyone for any reason whatsoever; or (b) used for any purpose other than generation of Aadhaar numbers and authentication under this Act.
(2) The identity information, other than core biometric information, collected or created under this Act may be shared only in Page 3 of 4 Uploaded by MR. AJAY C MENON(HC00939) on Fri Jun 27 2025 Downloaded on : Mon Jun 30 22:20:58 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION R/SCR.A/2684/2024 ORDER DATED: 27/06/2025 undefined accordance with the provisions of this Act and in such manner as may be specified by regulations.
(3) No identity information available with a requesting entity shall be-- (a) used for any purpose, other than that specified to the individual at the time of submitting any identity information for authentication; or (b) disclosed further, except with the prior consent of the individual to whom such information relates.
(4) No Aadhaar number or core biometric information collected or created under this Act in respect of an Aadhaar number holder shall be published, displayed or posted publicly, except for the purposes as may be specified by regulations.
30. Biometric information deemed to be sensitive personal information.- The biometric information collected and stored in electronic form, in accordance with this Act and regulations made thereunder, shall be deemed to be "electronic record" and "sensitive personal data or information", and the provisions contained in the Information Technology Act, 2000 and the rules made thereunder shall apply to such information, in addition to, and to the extent not in derogation of the provisions of this Act."
Considering the aforesaid fact, this Court has the power to pass appropriate directions to the respondent authority to provide the information as required for to ascertain the identity of accused.
[5.0] In view of above, respondent is directed to provide to the petitioner - State of Gujarat information as sought for by the Investigating Officer in connection with the FIR being C.R. No.11191011230186 of 2023 registered with DCB Police Station, Ahmedabad City.
[6.0] With aforesaid direction, present petition is disposed of.
(HASMUKH D. SUTHAR, J.) Ajay Page 4 of 4 Uploaded by MR. AJAY C MENON(HC00939) on Fri Jun 27 2025 Downloaded on : Mon Jun 30 22:20:58 IST 2025