Aadhaar data security: Delhi HC seeks reply from UIDAI and Centre

The Delhi High Court on Monday sought the response of the UIDAI and the Centre on a plea raising concerns about Aadhaar data security and privacy of individuals, in the wake of several reported leaks of personal information of people from the Unique Identification Authority of India's (UIDAI) database.

A bench of justices S Ravindra Bhat and Anu Malhotra issued notice and sought reply from authorities on the plea, which also urged the court to direct the Centre to either allow people to opt out of the system or delete the entire existing UIDAI data, in view of the security breaches.

The bench listed the matter for further hearing on November 19. The petitioner, Kerala-based lawyer Shamnad Basheer, has alleged in his plea that there were several breaches of the Aadhaar system leading to leakage of personal information of individuals since January, and contended that UIDAI and the Centre were liable to compensate people whose data was compromised.

Referring to one such alleged breach, the plea said a media house had managed to gain access to the entire database by paying a sum of Rs 500.