New Delhi: In a shocking revelation, the National Informatics Centre (NIC), which comes under the ministry of electronics has said that it neither has details about the creator of the Aarogya Setu app nor about how the app was developed.
The NIC, which designs government websites has been pulled up by the Chief Information Commission, which has also issued a showcause notice to various chief public information officers, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, National Informatics Centre and National E-Governance Division(NeGD) asking them to provide a reply to an RTI application which questioned about the Covid-19 contact tracing up.
“The reply can’t be evasive,” the CIC has said.
Saurav Das, an RTI applicant had reportedly approached the NIC, National E-Governance Division andthe Ministry of Electronics and Information, seeking information about the creation of the app, which has been made necessary during the COVID period. Millions of people have downloaded the app since the outbreak of the pandemic.
However, Das said that neither NIC nor the ministry had data regarding the creation of the app.
The CIC has also asked the National Informatics Centre to explain why its name is there on the website but it does not have any information regarding it.
“The Commission directs the CPIO, NIC to explain this matter in writing as to how the website https://aarogyasetu.gov.in/ was created with the domain name gov.in, if they do not have any information about it,” Information Commissioner Vanaja N Sarna has ordered.
The CIC noted that not only the about the creation of the app, nobody“seems to have” any knowledge about the files created, the inputs received, audit measures taken to check whether personal data are being misused or not.
