Delhi High Court directs UIDAI to submit its response on issue regarding identification of victims of road accidents

Read Time: 03 minutes

Synopsis

The order has been passed after a presiding officer of MACT wrote a reference to the High Court on August 3 with a request for a direction on specific legal issues relating to the identification of the victims based on particular characteristics available with the CIDR.

The Delhi High Court recently asked for a response from the Central Identities Data Repository (CIDR), the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), and the Delhi government on the issue of identifying unidentified victims of traffic accidents.

The authorities were given the directive by a bench of Justices Mukta Gupta and Anish Dayal in response to a request from the Motor Accidents Claim Tribunal's presiding officer.

The High Court further noted, "In view of the legal issue involved, vis-a-vis identification of unidentified bodies at the time of motor accidents, Senior Advocate Prashanto Chandra Sen is requested to appear as amicus curiae and assist this court".

The bench has also issued notice to the Delhi State Legal Service Authority.

MACT presiding officer Kamini Lau had sent a reference to the High Court on August 3 with a request for a direction on specific legal issues relating to the identification of the victims based on particular characteristics available with the CIDR, which is governed by the UIDAI.

The presiding officer had stated that while handling cases involving motor vehicle accident claims, certain legal obstacles were discovered during investigations that also impeded the investigation of situations where the identity of the deceased was unknown.

According to reports from the Delhi police, it was stated that they had asked the UIDAI to share information pertaining to the identification of the unidentified victims through the comparison of biometrics.