Delhi HC stays order mandating Aadhar-based biometric attendance for prosecutors

The Delhi High Court on Friday stayed an order of the government mandating the Aadhaar-enabled biometric attendance system (AEBAS) for prosecutors in the Capital. Justice Amit Mahajan stayed the move as an interim measure while hearing a petition filed by the Delhi Prosecutors Welfare Association (DPWA), which challenged the October 5 order of the Delhi government’s Directorate of Prosecution (DoP).

In that order, the government had reiterated that AEBAS is compulsory for public prosecutors, additional public prosecutors and assistant public prosecutors. This was the second time the DPWA has approached the High Court with a similar plea. In August, the High Court had disposed of a similar challenge by the DPWA, directing the government to consider the petition and decide it within four weeks, while also giving the association an opportunity to be heard.

In September, however, the government refused the DPWA's request that biometric attendance not be made compulsory for prosecutors. This mandate, the association had argued, ignored the "peculiar" nature of their work, which involves appearances at courts rather than at the government office, noting their attendance is already reflected in the court records and proceedings.

The DPWA had also suggested that an alternative method be devised, under which prosecutors could mark their attendance from courts through geo-tagging and face authentication. In its latest petition, the DPWA again argued that the work of prosecuting officers is "court-centric", with courts commencing at 10 am and prosecutors required to be present before them, and a single prosecuting officer often attending more than one court on the same day.

The DPWA, represented by advocates Rajesh Kumar and Kushal Kumar, also argued that prosecutors do not consent to Aadhaar authentication and that compulsory Aadhaar authentication for marking attendance is contrary to the Aadhaar Act. The association further pointed out that the system is a "disproportionate intrusion into informational privacy", and that such an intrusion requires a law, a legitimate aim and proportionality.

The matter has been posted for the next hearing on December 6 while seeking the Delhi government as well as the Centre’s response. The push for compulsory biometric attendance came after Chief Minister Rekha Gupta found several senior staff members, including senior bureaucrats, "absent" from duty at the state Goods and Services Tax (GST) office during a surprise inspection in April.

Following this, the government made biometric attendance mandatory for employees across its departments. The attendance is now reflected publicly on