No info on who created app, says govt
The Chief Information Commission pulled up the government after it said it has no information on who created the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) tracing app Aarogya Setu and how it has been created, even as it noted that the website of the app says it was developed by the National Informatics Centre (NIC) and the ministry of electronics and information technology (MEITY).
The commission issued a show cause notice to central public information officers of MEITY, NIC and the National e-Governance Division (NeGD) for withholding information on Arogya Setu and providing an evasive reply to a right to information (RTI) application filed by one Saurav Das who sought to know about the creation of the application, which has been downloaded by millions of Indians during the Covid-19 lockdown and pushed by the Centre as an essential tool.
According to the show cause notice, the RTI complaint sought information on the origin of Aarogya Setu app, details on proposal and approval, and with names of companies, people and government departments involved in the creation of the contact-tracing app.
The NIC, in its response to the RTI, said that they do not hold information on who created the app, while MEITY did not reply and NeGD said the information does not concern them.
Das had approached the CIC after various ministries did not provide information about Aaroya Setu.
The commission also sought details of the law under which the app was created and is being handled. It directed the NIC and central public information officers to explain in writing how the website was created with the domain name gov.in, if they do not have any information about it.
Chief information commissioner Vanaja N Sarna noted that not only about the creation of the app, nobody “seems to have any knowledge about the files created, the inputs
received, audit measures taken to check whether personal data are being misused or not”.
The order has taken cognisance of the Supreme Court decisions in Namit Sharma v Union of India 2012 case “in which it was held that the purpose and object for the enactment of the RTI Act was to make the government more transparent and accountable to the public and to ensure access to information to every citizen from the public authorities”.
MEITY officials, however, said that the government will comply with the CIC’s orders.
In a statement, MEITY said the app was developed in record time to combat the prevailing Covid-19 outbreak and its source code and the names of those associated with developing the app are available in the open domain.
“With regard to the above, it is clarified that there should be no doubt with regard to the Aarogya Setu App and its role in helping contain Covid-19 pandemic in India. Aarogya Setu app was launched by Government of India in public private partnership mode to bring people of India together in its fight against Covid-19,” the ministry said.