Former SC judge questions use of Aarogya Setu app

Former Supreme Court judge, Justice B N Srikrishna, has questioned use of contact tracing Aarogya Setu app, mobile application to help track COVID-19 patients, over a possible breach of data use. former apex court judge said this (app) is some kind of patchwork which will causes more concern to citizens than to benefit to m. Justice Srikrishna said that it is highly objectionable that such an order on contact tracing app is issued at an executive level.

"Such an order has to be backed by Parliamentary legislation, which will authorise government to issue such an order," ex-judge said while speaking at a webinar titled "Data Governance & Democratic Ethos" organised by Daksh on Monday.

He said that re was accountability in system in case of data breach in absence of a proper legislation in place.

"If re is a breach of data here, who is answerable? What action has to be taken? Who will held accountable for data breach? This should really have really have been traced ideally to PDP (Personal Data Protection) Act or through National Disaster Manment Act by an appropriate amendment," he said.

former judge said that government order is "akin to an inter-departmental circular".

"It is good that y are keeping with principles of Personal Data Protection Bill but who will be responsible if re is a breach? It does t say who should be tified," he said.

Justice Srikrishna h also chaired expert committee that drafted Personal Data Protection Bill. government h on April 2 launched mobile app to help people assess ir risk of getting infected with coronavirus and alert authorities if y have come in close contact with an infected person.

Around 9.8 crore people have downloed this app and it is available in 12 langus. Around 1.4 lakh Aarogya Setu app users have been alerted via Bluetooth contact tracing about possible risk of infection due to proximity to infected patients, according to a government official.