Delhi HC seeks Centre’s response on alleged leakage of personal information of vehicle owners by mobile apps

The Delhi High Court has sought the response of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways on a PIL alleging that various mobile applications allow access to personal data of vehicle owners and also sensitive information related to any vehicle by just entering the your registration number.

Advocate Gopal Bansal has sought directions to the transport ministry to set aside the Policy to provide access to information from the National Registry – a centralized database of driving licenses and registration certificates.

He also wants the Ministry of Law to draft appropriate legislation to protect the aforementioned National Registry. In addition, the PIL has asked the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technologies to stop the operation of the mobile applications involved in breach of data contained in the National Register.

While the Central Government told the HC that it is actively investigating the matter and will conduct a thorough review to address the concerns raised in the PIL, a bench headed by Chief Justice Manmohan has asked the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways to file a detailed affidavit in this regard and listed the case for further hearing on February 19.

Bansal highlighted that several mobile apps available on the Google Play Store allow easy access to private data such as the owner’s name, address and other vehicle-related data, which could lead to significant privacy violations and potential risks. of security

He wants the government to regulate or restrict the dissemination of personal information through these apps, calling for stricter enforcement of data protection laws and privacy safeguards.

According to the petition, sensitive information relating to any vehicle was exempted from disclosure even under Section 8(1)(a), (e) and (g) of the Right to Information Act, 2005.

The transport ministry had sold information to third-party entities under the old (now scrapped) Bulk Data Sharing Policy and Procedure, he said, claiming the data was still being sold even under the new policy.