The Indore bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court has ruled that failure of biometric verification cannot be a reason to deny a person’s legal or fundamental rights. The decision was made by Justice Subodh Abhyankar while hearing a petition by Vinod Kumar Meena, who was refused a job at Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) due to biometric verification failure during the onboarding process, a TOI report stated.
Petitioner’s claim and verification issues
Meena had appeared for the examination conducted by Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), where his biometrics were verified during entry. However, a mismatch occurred during exit verification. Despite being shortlisted, he was denied the job after his biometric verification failed in the onboarding process.
His counsel argued that the issue was technical, and LIC had not disclosed the TCS report, which led to his rejection. “It was merely a technical issue which led the petitioner to file this petition, and the respondents (LIC) have also not disclosed the report of the TCS, on the basis of which they have rejected the petitioner’s candidature for the post of assistant,” the counsel stated.
Court’s observations
Justice Abhyankar acknowledged the importance of biometric verification in ensuring a fair selection process but noted that such systems are not always reliable. “Although it is true that biometric verification is necessary nowadays to eliminate any discrepancy, and to ensure free and fair process of selection, it is also true that biometric verification is not always successful in eliminating discrepancies, like in the present case, and occasions when biometric verification of a candidate cannot be done due to a myriad reasons, beyond the control of the parties,” he stated.
Referring to the principle that procedure should serve justice and not dominate it, he remarked, “In the circumstances, can it be said that only on account of failure on the part of a machine, a person’s rightful claim can be rejected, and the answer is an emphatic ‘no’, as this court is of the considered opinion that a person’s legal and fundamental right cannot be curtailed or sidelined only on account of failure of a machine to recognise him, for whatever reason.” The court ruled that a person’s identity should not be determined solely by a machine and must be verified through official documents. “This court is also of the considered opinion that a person’s identity is not lost when he is not recognized by a machine, and in such circumstances, his claim has to be verified on the basis of the documents which he possesses regarding his identification, like Aadhaar Card, Samagra ID, PAN Card, driving licence, passport, etc,” Justice Abhyankar stated.
LIC was directed to verify Meena’s identity through his documents and issue his appointment letter within four weeks.
