The High Court of Karnataka has declined to quash a criminal case registered in 2017 against the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of a city-based private firm on a complaint that the company was allegedly misleading the public that they are authorised to sublet the Aadhaar enrolment process to individuals at a cost and collect money from the public.
Justice M. Nagaprasanna passed the order while rejecting the petition filed by Naresh Kumar R.P., CEO of Edurays India, Bengaluru.
The complaint was lodged after an official of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), who went as a civilian and sought an Aadhaar card from Namma Kendra, unearthed “nefarious activities of the petitioner in connivance with the enrolment agency in selling Aadhaar kits and Aadhaar cards in April 2017.
“Edurays in connivance with Utility Forms Pvt. Ltd. [enrolment agency] were involved in selling the kits and in the process subletting, which is not allowed as per UIDAI norms,” the complaint had said.
Terms of scheme
Countering the petitioner’s claim of innocence, Assistant Solicitor General of India (Karnataka HC) H. Shanti Bhushna had contended that the in terms of the scheme for empanelment of enrolment agency what was permitted to the enrolment agency was to enter into an agreement with the petitioner and the like, only for securing manpower and not to sublet the job of issuance of Aadhaar card.
Observing that the petitioner had not placed any unimpeachable evidence of sterling quality for quashing the criminal proceedings, the court said there were a plethora of circumstances for which the petitioner would have to undergo trial.
“The offence alleged against the petitioner having such ramification, as issuance of Aadhaar card by such agencies who are not empowered can also lead to distribution of such cards against the interest of national security. 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,” the court observed.
