The Delhi High Court on Tuesday impleaded UIDAI as a party while hearing a plea which sought directions to Centre to utilize the information available in the Aadhaar Card, including the biometric to trace the missing children.

The bench comprising Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and Justice V K Rao told the parties to file amended affidavit and adjourned the hearing to Feb 5.

According to a data collected by Delhi Police in 2017, on an average 18 children per day were reported missing in 2017 in the national capital and so far this year this count has reached 19. In 2017, 6,450 children were reported missing, among whom 2,535 were boys and 3,919 girls, the data said.

In October, the Delhi Lt. Governor Anil Baijal had directed the Delhi Police to examine the records of untraced children and probe the cases in which children were still missing.

—India Legal Bureau