The government promoted Aarogya Setu as an essential tool in the fight against Covid.
New Delhi:
Millions of Indians have installed Aarogya Setu, a contact tracing app that the government promoted as an essential tool in the fight against the coronavirus. But although Aarogya Setu’s website says it was developed by the National Informatics Center and the Ministry of Information Technology, both have denied knowing who created the app in response to a right to information query.
The Central Information Commission has issued a notice to the government of “evasive answers” about who created the Aarogya Setu application.
“You cannot accept the denial of information by the authorities,” says RTI’s higher body in the notice.
“None of the CIOs could explain anything about who created the app, where the files are, and this is extremely absurd.”
The affected departments have been asked to appear before the commission on November 24.
Activist Saurav Das had complained to the information commission that various ministries had not provided information about the creation of the app.
He had asked for details such as the origin of the application proposal, the details of its approval, the companies involved, the individuals and government departments included, and copies of communications between private individuals involved in the development of the application.
Over a two-month period, the query bounced across various departments.
The National Informatics Center reportedly said that “all the file related to the creation of the application does not belong to NIC.”
The IT ministry transferred the query to the National Electronic Government Division, which said: “The information sought is not related to (our division).”
The RTI body has also issued notices of proven cause to the heads of public information and the National Division of Electronic Governance.
The information commission asks in the notice why the government should not face action for “prima facie obstruction of information” and give an “evasive response” to RTI’s request.
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