Delhi High Court seeks Centre's reply on PIL against Aadhaar authentication for domestic LPG cylinders

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday sought responses from the Central government and oil and gas companies on a plea challenging the mandate that by October 1, domestic LPG consumers must complete biometric Aadhaar authentication (BAA) to book refills at the regulated price [Pulkit Luthra v. Union of India & Ors]. .A Division Bench of Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia said that it will consider the case on Monday (October 5). The Court remarked,"Everybody doesn’t have Aadhaar in this country, but they too are consuming LPG.".Everybody doesn’t have Aadhaar in this country, but they too are consuming LPG.Delhi High Court.The Court passed the order while dealing with a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by Pulkit Luthra, a practising advocate who is 75% visually disabled. Luthra has challenged the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas' September 17 letter to oil marketing companies and its September 19 press release announcing the mandatory biometric authentication requirement.He has argued that the requirement, particularly iris authentication involving blinking of the eyes, creates serious difficulties for persons with visual disabilities.According to Luthra, consumers "unwilling or unable" to authenticate would instead be permitted to obtain LPG at market prices in 5kg or 10kg cylinders, subject to availability. He contends that this is not an adequate alternative as consumers would lose access not only to the regulated/subsidised price, but potentially also to the regular 14.2 kg domestic cylinder.Further, he states that the requirement of Aadhaar authentication travels beyond the permissible scope of Section 7 of the Aadhaar Act, 2016 and fails the test of the Supreme Court's judgment in KS Puttaswamy. "Consequently, compulsory Aadhaar authentication, being an intrusion upon the fundamental right to privacy, must be authorised by law. The impugned directions, falling outside Section 7 of the Aadhaar Act, 2016 and unsupported by any other enabling statutory provision, cannot impose such a requirement by mere executive fiat. They consequently fail the requirement of legality recognised in KS Puttaswamy," the plea states.He has also argued that the new framework is arbitrary, disproportionate and violates Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution and the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016..Senior Advocate Parag P Tripathi along with Advocates Sanyam Saxena, Puneet Sharma, Aditi Bhushan, Vibha Narang, Harshit Luthra, Pulkit Luthra and Aprajita Sen appeared for the petitioner.