CHAPTER VII: OFFENCES AND PENALTIES
Section 34. Penalty for inefficiency in complying with directions issued by Authority
Whosoever fails to comply with any direction issued by the Authority under section 23A shall be liable to a penalty which may extend to one lakh rupees for each day during which such failure continues and in case of a second or subsequent failure, with a penalty which may extend to one crore rupees.
Section 35. Penalty for failure to comply with provisions of Act, rules, regulations and directions
Whosoever fails to comply with any provision of this Act, or any rules or regulations made thereunder, or any direction issued by the Authority under section 23A, for which no separate penalty has been provided in this Act, shall be liable to a penalty which may extend to twenty-five thousand rupees and in case of a second or subsequent failure, with a penalty which may extend to fifty thousand rupees for each day during which such failure continues.
Section 36. Penalty for demising or impersonating an Aadhaar number holder
Whosoever, not being a registered Aadhaar number holder, impersonates an Aadhaar number holder, or attempts to impersonate an Aadhaar number holder, by changing demographic or biometric information, or by any other means, shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years or with fine which may extend to ten thousand rupees, or with both.
Section 37. Penalty for penalty for impersonation by providing false demographic or biometric information
Whosoever intentionally discloses or transmits demographic information or biometric information to any person who is not authorised to receive such information under this Act or rules or regulations made thereunder, or in contravention of any agreement entered into under this Act, shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years or with a fine which may extend to ten thousand rupees or, in the case of a company, with a fine which may extend to one lakh rupees, or with both.
Section 38. Penalty for unauthorised access to Central Identities Data Repository
Whosoever, not being authorised by the Authority, intentionally—
- (a) accesses or secures access to the Central Identities Data Repository;
- (b) downloads, copies or extracts any data from the Central Identities Data Repository or stored in any removable storage medium;
- (c) introduces or causes to be introduced any virus or other computer contaminant into the Central Identities Data Repository;
- (d) damages or causes to be damaged the data in the Central Identities Data Repository;
- (e) disrupts or causes disruption of the access to the Central Identities Data Repository;
- (f) denies or causes the denial of access to any person authorised to have access to the Central Identities Data Repository;
- (g) provides any assistance to any person to facilitate access to the Central Identities Data Repository in contravention of the provisions of this Act or rules or regulations made thereunder;
- (h) tampers with the computer system or computer network with a view to destroying, damaging, tampering or altering data in the Central Identities Data Repository;
- (i) reveals, shares, uses or discloses any information in contravention of section 28; or
- (j) steals, conceals, destroys or alters or causes any person to steal, conceal, destroy or alter any computer source code used for the Central Identities Data Repository with an intention to cause damage,
shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years and shall also be liable to a fine which shall not be less than ten lakh rupees.
Section 39. Penalty for tampering with data in Central Identities Data Repository
Whosoever, uses or attempts to use demographic information or biometric information of an Aadhaar number holder to impersonate such holder, or tampers or attempts to tamper with data in the Central Identities Data Repository, shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years and shall also be liable to a fine which may extend to ten thousand rupees.
Section 40. Penalty for unauthorised disclosure of information
Whosoever, being an enrolling agency or a requesting entity, fails to comply with sub-section (2) of section 3 or sub-section (3) of section 8, shall be punishable with imprisonment which may extend to three years or with a fine which may extend to ten thousand rupees or, in the case of a company, with a fine which may extend to one lakh rupees, or with both.
Section 41. Penalty for non-compliance with direction of Authority
Whosoever fails to comply with any direction issued by the Authority under section 23A, for which no separate penalty has been provided under this Act, shall be punishable with fine which may extend to one lakh rupees and in the case of a second or subsequent failure, with fine which may extend to one crore rupees.
Section 42. General penalty
Whosoever contravenes any provision of this Act or any rule or regulation made thereunder, for which no penalty is separately provided in this Act, shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year or with fine which may extend to twenty-five thousand rupees or, in the case of a company, with fine which may extend to one lakh rupees, or with both.
Section 43. Offences by companies
(1) Where an offence under this Act has been committed by a company, every person who at the time the offence was committed was in charge of, and was responsible to, the company for the conduct of the business of the company, as well as the company, shall be deemed to be guilty of the offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly:
Provided that nothing contained in this sub-section shall render any such person liable to any punishment provided in this Act if he proves that the offence was committed without his knowledge or that he had exercised all due diligence to prevent the commission of such offence.
(2) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1), where any offence under this Act has been committed by a company and it is proved that the offence has been committed with the consent or connivance of, or is attributable to any neglect on the part of, any director, manager, secretary or other officer of the company, such director, manager, secretary or other officer shall also be deemed to be guilty of that offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.
Explanation.—For the purposes of this section—
- (a) "company" means any body corporate and includes a firm or other association of individuals; and
- (b) "director", in relation to a firm, means a partner in the firm.
Section 44. Act to apply for offence or contravention committed outside India
(1) Subject to the provisions of sub-section (2), the provisions of this Act shall apply also to any offence or contravention committed outside India by any person irrespective of his nationality.
(2) For the purposes of sub-section (1), the provisions of this Act shall apply to any offence or contravention committed outside India by any person if the act or conduct constituting the offence or contravention involves any data in the Central Identities Data Repository.
Section 45. Power to investigate offences
Notwithstanding anything contained in the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, a police officer not below the rank of Inspector of Police shall investigate any offence under this Act.
Section 46. Cognizance of offences
(1) No court shall take cognizance of any offence punishable under this Act, save on a complaint made by the Authority or any officer or person authorised by it.
(2) No court inferior to that of a Chief Metropolitan Magistrate or a Chief Judicial Magistrate shall try any offence punishable under this Act.
Section 47. Power to adjudicate
[1] (1) For the purpose of adjudicating under this Chapter, the Authority may appoint an officer not below the rank of Joint Secretary to the Government of India or an officer of equivalent rank in the Authority as an Adjudicating Officer for holding an inquiry in such manner as may be specified by regulations.
(2) The Adjudicating Officer may, on holding an inquiry, impose penalty on any person who fails to comply with any provision of this Act or any rules or regulations made thereunder or directions issued under section 23A.
Footnotes
- [1] Ins. by Act 14 of 2019, s. 13 (w.e.f. 25-7-2019).
- Note: Sections 34 to 47 of Chapter VII set out the penal provisions and adjudication framework introduced under the Act and its 2019 amendments.