In today's digital era, your data has become your biggest asset. But if the entire horoscope of your job and earnings reaches a private company through just a PAN number or UAN, then the situation becomes very serious. This is not an imaginary casserole, but a bitter truth. The Supreme Court has taken cognizance of this important issue. The court has expressed deep concern over the access of sensitive data like Employees' Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) and Income Tax Returns (ITR) by private companies. The court has asked the central government to prepare strong and robust security measures to prevent misuse of this data.
Your personal information at risk
A bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V Mohana, while hearing a PIL, understood the seriousness of the issue. It came to light before the court that in today's time a commercial technology system is emerging which easily extracts sensitive personal information present in PF and Income Tax records. According to the petitioner, when a person simply gives PAN or UAN to a private system to verify his identity, then that system gets the complete information related to employment and salary without any hindrance.
major flaws in the system
The most frightening thing in this entire process is that while extracting the data, neither any OTP comes on the consumer's phone, nor is any explicit consent taken from the user. No common citizen even knows when and who has seen his confidential information. However, the petitioner emphasized that this is not a case of direct data leakage by government agencies. Rather, it is a matter of the insecure state of personal information given to government officials under various laws, where private companies are easily accessing this data without any stringent security measures.
Supreme Court's strict stance
The Supreme Court refused to pass an order directly on this PIL filed by petitioner Piyush Sharma. The bench clarified that this issue mainly falls within the scope of government policy. However, the Court fully acknowledged that direct access by private companies to the personal data of the general public held by government officials is a matter of serious concern. Commercial use of this data cannot be justified in any way.
SC gave instructions to the government
After hearing all these arguments, the bench has directed the government to take necessary steps. The Supreme Court has suggested that the Central Government should take the help of experts and technical experts in this field. With their advice, an effective method and system should be developed which can completely prevent the possible misuse of personal data by private companies. This new pattern that is emerging despite the legal framework governing EPFO and income tax data is extremely dangerous. Now the responsibility of resolving this sensitive issue and erecting a security wall lies with the Central Government.