New Delhi: The Central Information Commission (CIC) on Tuesday issued show-notice to National Informatics Centre (NIC) and Information Technology Ministry for giving evasive answers on who created the Arogya Setu App.
Aarogya Setu (the mobile app touted as strong tool in keeping Coronavirus in check) website says it was designed, developed and hosted by the National Informatics Centre, however, in reply to an RTI query, NIC as well as Ministry of Information Technology have denied any knowledge on who created this App.
Taking exception to dilly-dally response by concerned govt departments, the CIC has issued show-cause notices to Central Public Information Officers (CPIO) of Ministry of Electronics, National Informatics Centre and the NeGD.
“The Commission directs the CPIO, NIC to explain this matter in writing as to how the website https://aarogyasetu.gov.in/ was created with the domain name gov.in, if they do not have any information about it,” Information Commissioner Vanaja N. Sarna ordered.
“None of the CPIOs were able to explain anything regarding who created the App, where are the files and the same is extremely preposterous”, the CIC stated.
The complaint was filed by Saurav Das, who claims to have approached the NIC, National E-Governance Division (NeGD) and the Ministry of Electronics and information technology.
The Arogya Setu App was downloaded by millions of Indians during lockdown and has been mandatory for officer-goers as well as for visiting restaurants, cinema halls, metro stations. But, Das says that neither NIC nor the ministry had any data regarding the creations of the app.
Congress raised concerns of data security in Arogya Setu
Earlier also, the contact tracing app has come under attack over security and safety of personal data.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had accused the government of breaching data security.
Daily a new lie.
Aarogya Setu is a powerful companion which protects people. It has a robust data security architecture.
Those who indulged in surveillance all their lives, won’t know how tech can be leveraged for good! https://t.co/t8ThXmddcS— Ravi Shankar Prasad (@rsprasad) May 2, 2020
“The Arogya Setu app, is a sophisticated surveillance system, outsourced to a pvt operator, with no institutional oversight – raising serious data security & privacy concerns. Technology can help keep us safe; but fear must not be leveraged to track citizens without their consent,” he had tweeted.
