A petition has been recently filed in the Delhi High Court expressing concerns over various mobile applications that allegedly expose personal and sensitive information of vehicle owners to third parties.
The petitioner, Gopal Bansal, a practicing advocate, argues that these applications grant unauthorized access to private details, such as the owner’s name, address, and vehicle-related data, posing significant privacy violations and security risks.
The petitioner contends that this access may facilitate the misuse of information for malicious purposes, compromising individual safety and privacy.
He seeks legal intervention to regulate or restrict the dissemination of personal information through these applications, advocating for stricter enforcement of data protection laws and privacy safeguards.
Bansal supports his claims by stating that he obtained sensitive information about vehicles reportedly used by judges of the court, including those for transporting Hon’ble Judges, as well as vehicles registered to certain judges and senior advocates.
He further alleges that the applications provide sensitive insurance and financial details related to these vehicles, potentially leading to the exposure of critical banking information and further privacy risks.
Additionally, the petitioner claims that during the Delhi communal riots, miscreants utilized these applications to identify the religion of vehicle owners, targeting vehicles belonging to specific communities. This misuse of data allegedly contributed to acts of violence against particular groups.
Bansal asserts that sensitive vehicle owner data was previously sold by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways under its now-scrapped “Bulk Data Sharing Policy & Procedure (BDS Policy).”
He references a parliamentary address in which the Minister confirmed that the Ministry had generated over INR 111 crores by providing access to databases containing Registration Certificates (RCs) and Driving Licenses (DLs) to 108 private entities.
Although the BDS Policy has been discontinued, the Minister indicated that previously sold data would not be deleted, allowing third parties continued access to sensitive information.
Following the scrapping of the BDS Policy, a new “Policy for Providing Access to Information from the National Register – A Centralised Database of DLs & RCs (NR Access Policy)” was introduced, permitting third-party access to sensitive data for a nominal fee.
The petitioner argues that this new policy remains arbitrary and continues to jeopardize citizen privacy by facilitating easy access to sensitive data without adequate safeguards.
He emphasizes the alarming ease with which personal and financial data can be accessed through mobile applications, posing a significant threat to privacy and security, especially for high-ranking officials such as judges and senior advocates.
The plea was recently heard by a bench of the Delhi High Court, led by Justice Manmohan and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela. After the counsel representing the Centre requested time to take instructions, the court rescheduled the hearing for October 15, 2024.
