The Karnataka High Court on Friday directed the Union and state governments to clarify on the compulsory use of Aarogya Setu application in certain services.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice N Nagaprasanna directed the governments to submit clarification on a PIL filed by Anivar A Aravind on the issues surrounding the Aarogya Setu App.
During the hearing on Friday, senior counsel, appearing for the petitioner, contended that Aarogya Setu App has been extended to serve as an e-pass and also to provide links to services offered by various service providers. He pointed out that at present only the client-side source has been released, that too for the Android version only. “The server side code is not released meaning that the current form of open sourcing by the government does not give clarity on how the tracking of data is
controlled.”
The petition stated the deletion of data on the App has been restricted to demographic data. It said the Aarogya Setu Data Access and Knowledge Sharing Protocol does not clearly state if uninstallation of the App will amount to deletion of demographic data or if a user has to follow a set procedure to request deletion of its demographic data.
In another issue, the petitioner contended that Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (BMRCL) has made it mandatory for its passengers to display the App before entering the station, whenever the services resume. The petitioner submitted the notices in this regard have been placed at the stations.
“Mandating the use of smartphones and Aarogya Setu Application discriminates against persons who do not have a smartphone and also affects the right to privacy of citizens by mandating the use of an App that has access to the location of the user,” the petition stated.
The bench asked both the Centre and the state government to clarify on these issues. “Though we are granting time to the Government of India to file objections, we direct that on the next date of hearing the Union of India shall make clarifications. Respondent 9 (BMRCL) will explain whether use of the App will be mandatory as a condition precedent for boarding metro rail as and when the functioning of the metro rail,’” the bench directed.