Bengaluru man moves SC for biometric details of late father from UIDAI


New Delhi, Mar 16 (PTI): In a peculiar case, a human resources manager from Bengaluru on Thursday moved the Supreme Court seeking a direction to the UIDAI to hand him back the biometric data of his late father collected for Aadhaar card.

Santosh Min B said he wanted the biometric details as these would be of no use for the UIDAI since his father was dead now and there were also chances of their misuse and abuse.

Santosh, who works with an ayurvedic clinic, told the apex court that his father died after he felt insulted while filling a life certificate at a provident fund office in Bengaluru, as his authentication by biometrics failed due to old age and cataract surgery of his eyes.

A five-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra gave two minutes' time to Santosh Min B to argue his case in which he said that the Aadhaar scheme is like an "undeclared emergency".

"This court may direct the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) to hand over my dad's biometric in a printed form so that I can keep it for posterity," he told the bench also comprising justices A K Sikri, A M Khanwilkar, D Y Chandrachud and Ashok Bhushan.

He also sought to abolish the Aadhaar scheme and said that "his father had passed away on December 31, 2016, the dark day in our history, as on that day demonetisation ended".

The bench interrupted him and said, "We will not allow you to give any speech. If you want you can argue on question of law, but you can't be allowed to give a speech."

Santosh, who appeared in person before the court, said that he had received a half-written letter of his father N Bhanu Vikaraman for the prime minister in January this year.

In the letter, his father had written about the "harassment" a sick and elderly person faces during filling a life certificate form at provident fund offices throughout the country.

"In imposing the Aadhaar, the government of the day wanted to keep track of every single paise earned by the citizen and on other hand, political parties can receive funds anonymously through electoral bonds," Santosh said in his submission.

He said that since his father is dead now, the biometric details would be of no use for the UIDAI and moreover, there were chances of their misuse and abuse.

The bench took on record his submissions and posted the matter for further hearing on March 20.

The bench is hearing a clutch of petitions challenging the constitutional validity of Aadhaar and its enabling Act.

  

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Comment on this article

  • SMR, Karkala

    Fri, Mar 16 2018

    The argument of Mr. Santosh Min B is genuine considering the biometric data exposed by the investigative journalist Rachna Khaira of 'Tribune News Service'.
    It was only last November that the UIDAI asserted that “Aadhaar data is fully safe and secure and there has been no data leak or breach at UIDAI.”
    The Tribune “purchased” a service being offered by anonymous sellers over WhatsApp that provided unrestricted access to details for any of the more than 1 billion Aadhaar numbers created in India thus far.
    It took just Rs 500, paid through Paytm, and 10 minutes in which an “agent” of the group running the racket created a “gateway” for this correspondent and gave a login ID and password. Lo and behold, you could enter any Aadhaar number in the portal, and instantly get all particulars that an individual may have submitted to the Unique Identification Authority of India, including name, address, postal code, photo, phone number and email.
    What is more, The Tribune team paid another Rs 300, for which the agent provided “software” that could facilitate the printing of the Aadhaar card after entering the Aadhaar number of any individual.
    UIDAI later filed FIR against the journalist. Instead of penalising the reporter, UIDAI should have ordered a thorough internal investigation into the alleged breach and made its findings public.
    Chief Justice Dipak Misra against whom four senior judges revolted, is known to create blunder. He has passed law compulsory national anthem singing in Movie theaters, favoured Cauvery issue for Tamil Nadu while Karnataka is facing acute drought and so on.
    CJI has no ethical value to hear petitioner whose argument have value to it. Considering the breach of UIDAI he should have asked the government to give clarification on holding the data of dead person.
    Supreme Court gives only 2 minutes for argument when the world's largest database of biometric details of a 1.19 billion residents in India.
    How does SC ensures security of data?
    JaiHind

    DisAgree Agree [5] Reply Report Abuse

  • Rudolf Rodrigues, Mumbai

    Fri, Mar 16 2018

    Aadhar is the biggest blunder; now SC seems to have developed cold feet?

    DisAgree Agree [6] Reply Report Abuse

  • Ajay, Kallianpur

    Fri, Mar 16 2018

    Aadhar is the latest and as yet biggest racket. Everybody except the common man is exploiting it, the price as usual is paid by the common man.

    DisAgree Agree [9] Reply Report Abuse

  • Vincent Rodrigues, Bengaluru/Katapadi

    Fri, Mar 16 2018

    This is the matter referred to the court who will decide on the legality of the claim

    DisAgree Agree [9] Reply Report Abuse

  • Jenifer, Mangalore

    Fri, Mar 16 2018

    "The bench interrupted him and said, "We will not allow you to give any speech. If you want you can argue on question of law, but you can't be allowed to give a speech."


    NO ! I say, the authorities or those appointed to represent it MUST or are obliged to listen to the grievance of the man and or all others. Did the common man ask 'why should I give my bio-metric details' ? At the same time, did the government assure that the details will not be misused ? Also, did the government make alternative arrangements when a man's tissues wear-out in old age ?

    I commend the man and have my full support. Hereafter, there should be total process to cancel the Adhaar issued to a citizen upon his/her death just like a PP, Voter ID, Bank account or other IDs are cancelled/closed. Without compromise, to eliminate any chance of their misuse !

    DisAgree [1] Agree [39] Reply Report Abuse

  • Af,,, Mangalore

    Fri, Mar 16 2018

    He has all the rights to getback his father bio metric details,

    DisAgree Agree [33] Reply Report Abuse


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Title: Bengaluru man moves SC for biometric details of late father from UIDAI



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