The petitioner in Karnataka High Court, who had challenged the mandatory nature of Aarogya Setu for air and rail travel, is now seeking a permanent injunction against the app, as per his amended petition in the Court. Anivar A. Aravind, a public interest technologist, has been allowed by the Karnataka High Court to amend his petition and place on record his concerns about Aarogya Setu’s Open API Services Portal. “In the app, there is a new function introduced which allows the govt to give the data of all employees to the employers which is a terrible invasion of privacy. Not only personal data but also location data every 15 minutes,” Senior Advocate Colin Gonsalves submitted on behalf of Aravind. The division bench constituting Chief Justice Abhay Oka and Justice Ashok Kinagi allowed the petitioner to amend the petition to challenge function creep via the API services introduced on August 22. The case will next be heard on September 16. The petitioner has been granted a week to circulate copies of the amended petition to the respondents that include the Ministry of Home Affairs, Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) and others. App is not mandatory for metro services Gonsalves reminded the court that in the previous hearings, it was established that the app is not mandatory for air travel, rail travel or the health department of the central government. “On the last occasion, there was a statement made and an affidavit filed by the counsel for Metro Rail saying that…
