The Central Information Commission (CIC) had pulled up the National e-Governance Division (NeGD), Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), and National Informatics Centre (NIC) for providing an evasive reply on the Aarogya Setu app and issued them show-cause notices.
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In a reply to CIC, the government issued a detailed clarification stating that the Aarogya Setu app was developed in the most transparent manner with public-private collaboration in record time to fight the coronavirus.
The names of those associated with the app were already in the public domain, it asserted.
Clarification by the government on built Aarogya Setu app-the Covid 9 tracker of India
"The Aarogya Setu app was developed in a record time of around 21 days, to respond to the exigencies of the Pandemic with Lockdown restrictions only for the objective of building a Made in India Contact Tracing App with the best of Indian minds from Industry, Academia and Government, working round the clock to build a robust, scalable and secure app," said the government.
The clarification came after it emerged earlier on Wednesday that the government had been served notice by the Central Information Commission for what it called "evasive answers" on who created the contact tracing app that the government pushed as an essential tool in the fight against the coronavirus.
What does the Aarogya Setu Website say?
When you open the Aarogya Setu website, the bottom of the home page says, "Content owned, updated and maintained by the MyGov, MeitY. Aarogya Setu Platform is designed, developed, and hosted by National Informatics Centre, Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology, Government of India."
According to the Central Information Commission, various ministries and departments had given "evasive answers" to a Right to Information (RTI) query on who created the Aarogya Setu app.
"Denial of information by authorities cannot be accepted," the top RTI body said in its notice, calling it "extremely preposterous".
The notice questioned why the government should not face action for "prima facie obstruction of information" and giving an "evasive reply".
RTI Filed Over Aarogya Setu App
It all began with an RTI filed by Activist Saurav Das who raised a question as to why there is not much information about the creation of the app when it has been made mandatory for several activities such as travel. He sought details such as the proposal for the app, details of approval, companies involved, individuals and government departments involved, and copies of communications in developing the app.
He also raised concerns over data privacy as there is no information regarding how the data is being protected and what protocols exist to ensure there is no large scale leak or exploitation.
According to guidelines issued by the ministry of home affairs, it is mandatory to download the Arogya Setu app before entering restaurants, cinema halls, metro stations, and boarding flights. Millions have downloaded the app, and a lot of security concerns have been raised regarding the app.