Alka Verma –
Published On: October 06, 2021 at 09:20 IST
The Karnataka High Court asked the Centre as well as the State Government to be cautious regarding the increasing cases of Illegal Aadhar enrollment.
“It is prudent for the Government of India or the State Government to have a vigil on such instances of rising cases of frauds in Aadhaar enrolment,” stated Justice M Nagaprasanna.
The Court denied quashing an FIR registered against a 47-year old entrepreneur who was accused of being involved in the illegal selling of Aadhar and Aadhar kits.
The petitioner, who is the CEO of M/s Edurays India, a company working for Aadhar enrollment, in 2015 had entered into an agreement with another firm which is Utility Forms Private Limited, which is an enrolment agency for UIDAI.
An FIR against the Petitioner was filed in April 2017 which stated that while in the terms and conditions of the agreement it was mentioned that the company is providing manpower to Utility, the various complaints stated that the company was involved in the various illegal trades of distributing free Aadhar Kits.
While Advocate Murthy Naik, who was appearing for Petitioner argued that the Petitioner was strictly bound to the terms and conditions of the agreement and also claimed that no free Aadhar kits were distributed.
On the other hand, Additional Solicitor General Shanti Bhushan stated that this action of the Petitioner gives a national threat to security because Aadhar Card then can be issued to anyone coming from neighbouring countries.
After listening to the arguments, the Court firstly looked through the provisions of the Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Act, 2016 and then stated, “ In the light of the afore-extracted options given by the petitioner, what becomes unmistakably clear is that, the petitioner indulged in trade of free kits, which undoubtedly would become an offence punishable under Section 420 of IPC, as if it is seen that these options were given, it would be only with an intention to cheat.”
Adding to it, the Court stated, “Therefore, it is a matter of trial that the petitioner should come out clean on justification of the afore- extracted notice that was issued and the collection of money that he has made under 5 options of selling the Aadhaar kit to be sold ranging from 40,000 onwards to 1,85,000 and every Aadhaar card that was being issued by Namma Kendra, a particular fee ranging from Rs.100/- to Rs.200/- was collected.”
The Court at the end denied quashing the FIR registered and dismissed the Petition.
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