The Bombay High Court on Wednesday issued notice to the central government in response to a plea challenging the de-facto imposition of Aarogya Setu by the Regional Passport Office (RPO), Mumbai. The petition, filed by one Tanya Mahajan, claimed that she was denied entry by the Passport Seva Kendra at Malad after she refused to install Aarogya Setu, the Indian government’s contact tracing app. The plea claimed that while the Regional Passport Office’s website suggests having the app is voluntary, it has been made mandatory in practice. On September 3, Mahajan had visited the Passport Seva Kendra in Malad to renew her passport, when she was denied entry into the premises without the contact tracing app on her phone, the plea claimed. The de-facto imposition of the app is also violative of the right to privacy, it added. Mahajan prayed for the court to direct the government to make the use of Aarogya Setu voluntary, and not deny individuals without the app from availing any services. The de-facto imposition of the app curtailed the petitioner’s access to a government service, the plea said, adding that such a measure could potentially lead to exclusion of people without a smartphone from availing government services: “The de-facto mandatory use of an mobile application is bound to result in excluding persons who do not have a smartphone or who have been categorized incorrectly as belonging to the risk category of the mobile application” — from the petition It is also violative of an individual’s personal…
