The students of National Law University, Jodhpur filed a Public Interest Litigation before the Meghalaya High Court; against the government orders. Explicitly, the Petition challenged the compulsory imposition of the ‘Corontine App’ and the ‘Stay Safe Meghalaya App’ by the state government. The order dated March 29, 2020, mandated the use of these apps by all the persons under home quarantine. The applications mandated by the state are different from that of Union Ministry of Electronics and IT’s Aarogya Setu.
Contentions by the Petitioner
The law students argued that no guidelines or protocols have been issued by the government; with respect to the collection, storage, sharing, and anonymization of the data by these applications. The government has not issued any safeguards concerning data privacy. Being that, it violates the principles of data privacy and personal autonomy including purpose limitation and data minimization.
Moreover, the mandatory use of these applications in the absence of any legislation or privacy policy results in the violation of the constitutional rights of the public at large. The mandatory direction is unreasonable and arbitrary. In the light of the above contentions, the petitioner pleaded to declare the order as arbitrary, illegal, and unconstitutional.
Notably, the mandatory use direction for the Aarogya Setu app is also challenged; whereby the Kerala High Court remarked it as a “valid concern”.
