Aarogya Setu App not mandatory; Imposition diluted by MHA

Ministry of Home Affairs has issued guidelines for the fourth phase of the National Lockdown, in which the mandatory provision to download the Aarogya Setu App has been diluted. Aarogya Setu is the contact tracing application for COVID-19 which has been developed by National Informatics Center. The guideline stated that-

“With a view to ensuring safety in offices and work places, employers on best effort basis should ensure that Aarogya Setu is installed by employees having compatible phones.”

“District authorities may advise individuals to install the Aarogya Setu application on compatible mobile phones and regularly update their health status on the app.” 

The earlier guidelines had stated that the app is mandatory for all the private and public employees. And the head of the organization was to be made responsible to ensure 100% employees have installed the app. Violation of this rule was liable for a criminal prosecution under the provisions of the Disaster Management Act, 2005 and under Section 188 of the Indian Penal Code.

Earlier, a writ petition was filed in the Kerala High Court, challenging the constitutional validity of this direction to mandatorily install the app, on the ground that this condition is unreasonable and arbitrary, since, all the employees do not own a smart phone. The Kerala HC had asked the Center to explain the practicality of this direction and had said that this direction is coercive in nature. The court had also sought a response from the Center regarding privacy safeguards of the app.