Cuttack, March 28:The Orissa High Court on Friday issued notice to the Odisha government questioning on the obligatory implementation of the Automated Permanent Academic Account Registry (APAAR) for school students in the state.
Hearing a petition filed by a guardian, Rohit Anand Das, a bench of the Orissa High Court, has sought the state government’s stance regarding mandate of the APAAR ID,that is made obligatory for all the school students.
Das in his plea stated that non-compliances with the APAAR ID will restrict access to education for students who do not have the requisite IDs, essentially the Adhaar Card. It will force children to give up their right to privacy in order to continue their education.
Apart from it, the APAAR ID lacks adequate safeguards to protect the student’s privacy, the plea added.
Parents and digital rights activists have raised objections on the APAAR ID mandate stating that the initiative contravenes the right to privacy established by a Supreme Court verdict in 2017, which decrees that Aadhaar is not mandatory for educational purposes.
The petitioner through his plea has prayed the Orissa High Court bench, to sue the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Electronics &IT and the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) in connection with the case.
