India

Delhi High Court Halts Aadhaar Attendance Mandate for Prosecutors

By PTI

The Delhi High Court has stayed an order issued by the city government that required public prosecutors in trial courts to record their daily attendance using the Aadhaar Enabled Biometric Attendance System (AEBAS). Justice Amit Mahajan issued the notice after receiving a petition from the Delhi Prosecutors' Welfare Association, which challenged the directive issued by the Delhi Directorate of Prosecution on October 5. The directive required all prosecuting officers to mark attendance either at the biometric attendance machine or via a mobile app at their district court complex or office. The petitioners, represented by senior advocates N Hariharan, Ashish Mohan and Sacchin Puri, argued that public prosecutors and additional public prosecutors are court officers appointed under sections 18 and 19 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, and their presence is already recorded daily in judicial order sheets. They claimed that the compulsory AEBAS registration was unreasoned, arbitrary, contrary to Aadhaar law and the right to privacy. The petition also stated that the work of a prosecuting officer is court‑centric, beginning at 10:00 A.M., and that a rigid attendance regime would impose an unreasonable administrative burden, divert officers from their primary judicial functions, and cause avoidable delays in remand, bail and trial proceedings, thereby affecting the constitutional guarantee of a speedy trial under Article 21. The authorities had previously rejected the petitioner's representation, stating that it was without merit and that attendance marking was necessary. Lawyers Kushal Kumar, Aditya Kapoor, Rishabh Saxena and Harsh Ahuja also appeared for the petitioner. The case is scheduled to be heard again in December.