On Thursday, the Calcutta High Court requested the Union government submit an affidavit by April 24, detailing the circumstances surrounding the purported deactivation of the Aadhaar card link for certain citizens in Bengal.

A division bench consisting of Chief Justice T.S. Sivagnanam and Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharyya issued the order. The Joint Forum Against NRC, along with its convenor Prasenjit Bose, who filed a petition in the high court, alleged that the Narendra Modi government had unlawfully deactivated the Aadhaar cards of over 1,000 Indian citizens in Bengal.

Advocate Jhuma Sen, representing the petitioner, argued that the Centre's actions were in contradiction to the provisions outlined in the Constitution. She requested an order directing the Union government to promptly reactivate the Aadhaar cards.

Sen expressed that the Centre's actions had caused widespread panic among common citizens. She urged the court to issue an order prohibiting the Centre from taking similar actions until the petition is disposed of.

The petition was filed last week, during which Ashok Chakraborty, additional solicitor general (eastern India), contended that due to parliamentary issues being involved in the matter, the court should send a notice to the attorney general to represent the case. Consequently, a notice was dispatched. However, as the attorney general was unavailable, the additional solicitor general argued on behalf of the Union government.

“This action, the government is taking against foreign nationals who have entered the country or are staying here illegally. It has to be done for the safety of the country. If the Aadhaar link of any bonafide citizen has been deactivated, it is surely an error,” said Chakraborty.

He further argued that the court should not consider the petition, as the petitioner failed to provide the names and whereabouts of the individuals whose Aadhaar cards were deactivated.

Advocate Sen then said: “The Union government should have then intimated the persons concerned that it was merely an error. On the contrary, the government is mum on the issue.”

She added that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had written a letter to the Prime Minister seeking clarification on the reasons behind the deactivation of Aadhaar cards but has yet to receive a response.

After hearing arguments from both parties, the division bench issued an interim order and scheduled the matter for further hearing on April 24th.