HC asks govt to keep vigil on ‘Rising Frauds in Aadhaar Enrollment’

Naresh Kumar R.P. Vs State Of Karnataka (Karnataka High Court)

Conclusion: High Court had refused to quash a FIR registered against a 47 years old entrepreneur, allegedly involved in illegally selling aadhaar cards as issuance of Aadhaar cards by agencies who were not empowered could also lead to the distribution of cards to neighboring countries which was against the interest of national security. It was prudent for the Government of India or the State Government to have a vigil on such instances of rising cases of frauds in Aadhaar enrollment.

Held: Assessee was Chief Executive Officer of a company dealing with e-governance, skill development, finance, education consultancy, manpower consultancy, higher education and institutions and claimed to have expertise in Aadhaar enrolment. Assessee entered into a service provider agreement on 1 ^st April 2015 with ‘Utility’ for providing services mentioned in the contract.  A FIR came to be registered against assessee for sub-letting the process of enrolment. It was the prosecution’s case that in terms of the scheme for empanelment of enrolment of agency what was permitted to the enrolment agency was to enter into an agreement with assessee and the like, only for securing manpower and not to sublet the job of issuance of Aadhaar card. The action of enrolment agency in entering into a sub-contract with assessee had led to grave threat to national security as Aadhaar cards were recklessly issued to many who were also from neighboring countries. Such instance had emerged by the acts of the agencies like the assessee. Therefore, it was for assessee to come out clean in the trial as the investigation itself was not yet commenced in the case on hand. It was held that  what was permitted under the Scheme was the manpower such as enrolment operator and supervisor could be hired by the third parties by the enrolment agency. What enrolment agency (Utility Forms Private Limited) did was to the contrary, sub-contract was entered into with assessee for functions beyond what was statutorily permitted and the scheme contemplated. Therefore, it was a matter of trial that assessee should come out clean on the justification of the afore- extracted notice that was issued and the collection of money that he had 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 also considered the Office Memorandum, issued by the Government of India, drawing attention towards comprehensive guidelines issued by UIDAI, in the wake of rising cases of charging money for Aadhaar enrolment and zero tolerance should be taken by the Government. Therefore, with the facts being so glaring and the offence alleged against assessee having such ramification, as issuance of Aadhaar cards by such agencies who were not empowered could also lead to the distribution of such cards against the interest of national security. It was prudent for the Government of India or the State Government to have a vigil on such instances of rising cases of frauds in Aadhaar enrollment.

FULL TEXT OF THE JUDGMENT/ORDER of KARNATAKA HIGH COURT

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