Karnataka HC Restrains Central Government and NIC from Sharing Aarogya Setu Data From Users Without Obtaining Thier Informed Consent

Today, a Division Bench of Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice Vishwajith Shetty restrained the Central government and the National Informatics Centre from sharing the data of Aarogya Setu tracking application users without obtaining their informed consent. The Bench Said that: "Till further orders, we restrain the Government of India and National Informatics Centre from sharing the response data, by applying provisions of Aarogya Setu Data Access and Knowledge Sharing Protocol, 2020, unless informed consent of the user is taken." 

It is pertinent to note that India is the only country that has come out with an app of this kind. The bench was of the view that the Aarogya Setu Protocol 2020 lacks a system of obtaining user consent for sharing their data. Last month, Senior Advocate Colin Gonsalves, representing the petitioners pointed the following anomalies resulting from the usage of this app and also stated that the central government is not following the 2019  KS Puttaswamy (Retd.) and Anr. v. Union Of India Judgement to steer clear on privacy issues.