Aarogya Setu blunder: IT Ministry says taking steps to comply with CIC orders
Following a show cause notice issued over the government’s “preposterous” response to an RTI query related to the Aarogya Setu application, the IT Ministry said it was taking steps to comply with the CIC’S orders, while adding that the app had been developed by the National Informatics Centre (NIC) in collaboration with volunteers from industry and academia. The development comes after the Ministry and NIC were slammed by the CIC over their reply to an RTI stating that they do not have any information about the “creation” of the Aarogya Setu application promoted by the government to contain the spread of COVID-19. The CIC termed the response as “preposterous” and issued a show cause notice to the NIC to explain why a penalty under the RTI Act should not be slapped on it for “prima facie obstruction of information and providing an evasive reply”.
In the order, Information Commissioner Vanaja N. Sarna pointed out that the website of the application mentions that the content on it is “owned, updated and maintained” by Mygov and Meity, and directed the CPIO of the Ministry to explain why they did not have the requisite information. “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,” Meity said in a release, adding that, as was announced on April 2, 2020, the Aarogya Setu App had been launched by the Government of India in a public private partnership mode to bring the people of India together in its fight against COVID-19. “The names of all those associated with the development of the App and management of the App ecosystem at various stages was shared when the code was released in Open/public Domain and the same was shared widely in media also...on all such occasions, it has been clearly mentioned that the Aarogya Setu App has been developed by NIC in collaboration with volunteers from Industry and Academia,” it added. ■