The government has been issued a notice by the Central Information Commission over “evasive answers” on who created the Aarogya Setu app.
Aarogya Setu app has over 100 million downloads on the Google playstore. Indians downloaded the app that the government pushed as an essential tool in the fight against the coronavirus. While Aarogya Setu’s website says it was developed by the National Informatics Centre and the IT ministry, both claimed to have no knowledge of who created the app in response to a Right to Information query.
The government has been issued a notice by the Central Information Commission over “evasive answers” on who created the Aarogya Setu app.
“Denial of information by authorities cannot be accepted,” the apex RTI body has said.
Various ministries had failed to provide information about the creation of the app, activist Saurav Das had complained to the information commission.
The details like the origin of the proposal for the app, its approval details, the companies involved, individuals and government departments included, and copies of communications between private people involved in developing the app were sought by Sourav Das.
The query bounced off various departments for over two months, NDTV reported.
Reportedly, the National Informatics Centre, said that the “entire file related to creation of the App is not with NIC”.
The query was transferred to the National e-Governance Division by IT Ministry, which said: “The information sought is not related to (our division).”
Chief Public Information Officers and the National e-Governance Division have been served show-cause notices by the RTI body.
Why the government should not face action for “prima facie obstruction of information” and giving an “evasive reply” to the RTI application, the information commission has questioned in the notice.
As an independent media platform, we do not take advertisements from governments and corporate houses. It is you, our readers, who have supported us on our journey to do honest and unbiased journalism. Please contribute, so that we can continue to do the same in future.
