Impossible to compare fingerprints of the dead with Aadhaar database, UIDAI tells Madras High Court 

UIDAI states it cannot compare deceased fingerprints with Aadhaar database due to legal restrictions and technology constraints.

It is impossible to compare the fingerprints of a deceased with the Aadhaar database and provide demographic information to the police for the purpose of ascertaining the identity of an unknown body, the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has told the Madras High Court.

In a counter affidavit filed before Justice G.K. Ilanthiraiyan, the UIDAI said, the Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Act, 2016 imposes severe restrictions on sharing information. Further, there were technology constraints in culling out information about the dead, it added.

The submissions were made in response to a writ petition (criminal) filed by the State of Tamil Nadu represented by a Deputy Superintendent of Police, Tindivanam Sub Division, Villupuram district, seeking a direction to the UIDAI to provide the demographic details of an unidentified body using its fingerprints.

Central government senior panel counsel K. Srinivasamurthy said, UIDAI was a statutory body functioning under the Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY). The object of the 2016 Aadhaar Act, as amended in 2019, was to empower residents of India with a unique identity proof.

The UIDAI issues a 12-digit Aadhaar number after a person undergoes enrolment by submitting demographic as well as biometric information. The prime object of the Aadhaar Act was to ensure targeted delivery of government subsidies, benefits and services to the beneficiaries, the counsel said.

He also submitted a counter affidavit signed by UIDAI Deputy Director Priya Sreekumar who asserted that “Aadhaar number is not used to track other activities of the resident” and that Chapter VI of the Aadhaar Act requires the UIDAI to maintain strict confidentiality with respect to individual records.

She pointed out Section29(1) of the Act categorically states that no core biometric information, collected or created under the Act, should be shared with anyone for any reason whatsoever; or used for any purpose other than generation of Aadhaar numbers and authentication under the Act.