PIL In Kerala High Court Challenges Home Ministry Move To Make Aarogya Setu App Mandatory

A petition has been filed in the Kerala High Court that challenges the Ministry of Home Affairs' directive to state governments to make the Aarogya Setu application mandatory for a class of citizens.

The petitioner, John Daniel, general secretary of the district Congress committee of Thrissur, said in his public interest litigation that the direction dilutes “the concepts of personal autonomy and informed consent effected by virtue of this mandatory imposition”. BloombergQuint has viewed a copy of the petition, which was filed by Advocate Sriram Parakkat.

The Aarogya Setu app was launched by the central government on April 2 to aid contact tracing of people infected by the novel coronavirus. India witnessed its first case of Covid-19 on Jan. 30, and the total number of people infected by the pandemic now stands at more than 52,000, according to the latest numbers from the Union health ministry.

The Press Information Bureau had said in a statement at the time that “personal data collected by the app is encrypted using state-of-the-art technology and stays secure on the phone till it's needed for facilitating medical intervention”.

The PIL, however, said the order mandating the use of the app takes away the right of individuals to decide and control the use of information pertaining to them. The petitioner also said it isn't clear which department or ministry will access the data collected by the app and there's lack of proper accountability as the terms of service limit the accountability of the government.

The Ministry of Home Affairs had on May 1 asked all local authorities to ensure 100 percent coverage of the app among all residents in every containment zone in the country. It also stipulates the app as mandatory for all employees in private and public sector establishments and the head of the organisations have been tasked with ensuring 100 percent coverage for it.

The petition argues that while the privacy policy of the app has provisions for certain data being deleted after 30 days, there are “enough exceptions which facilitate government discretion”.

Making the employers liable for penal action if they fail to ensure the coverage of the app among their employees is arbitrary and must be struck down, the petitioner argued.

The petitioner sought direction from the Kerala High Court to strike down the directives as unconstitutional and issue order saying that the download of the app will be voluntary for everyone.