A Calcutta High Court division bench is hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) to challenge the validity of inclusion of Regulation 28A in the Aadhaar Act by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI).

The Joint Forum, the petitioner organisation, moved the case after the UIDAI deleted the names of some bonafide citizens who live in Bengal, before the Lok Sabha polls.

Bengal chief minister Mamata Bannerjee had to communicate with the Union government and the UIDAI, the controlling authority of Aadhaar, was forced to withdraw its contentious decision.

The UIDAI had issued notices to those citizens under Regulation 28A of the Aadhaar Act, which according to the Joint Forum was not a part of the Aadhaar Act, 2016.

Advocate Jhuma Sen, the counsel appearing for the petitioner organisation, said in court that the UIDAI had inserted Regulation 28A in the Aadhaar Regulations through an amendment in September 2023.

"Regulation 28A is concerned with foreign nationals, and therefore anybody receiving notices under such regulation is purportedly a foreign national in the eyes of the UIDAI," she said.

The lawyer added that the process through which the UIDAI has satisfied itself that a Aadhaar number holder is a "foreign national" is opaque and arbitrary. "Regulation 28A which mandates the UIDAI to determine an individual’s citizenship status are ultra vires the Aadhaar Act, 2016, and hence unconstitutional," she said.

In the course of hearing of the PIL, the UIDAI had filed an affidavit in the matter stating that Aadhaar cards had nothing to do with citizenship.

"Aadhaar card has nothing to do with citizenship and even those who have lawfully entered the country can be granted an Aadhaar card if applied for," said Laksmi Gupta, the counsel for the UIDAI.