A law student has petitioned Meghalaya High Court, challenging the “mandatory imposition” of two contact-tracing apps used during the current Covid-19 pandemic, alleging that they violated the core principles of data privacy and personal autonomy.

Jade J. Lyngdoh, a student of National Law University, Jodhpur, has filed a public interest litigation before the high court, challenging an order dated March 29 issued by the Meghalaya government that mandeated all persons who have been recommended for home quarantine/isolation by the state government to download and use the Corontine and Stay Safe Meghalaya apps.

A team of lawyers are appearing on behalf of the petitioner, but the petition is yet to be listed for hearing.

Lyngdoh decided to file the petition on several grounds. He contended that there are no protocol/guidelines of the state government vis-à-vis the collection, processing, storage, sharing and anonymisation of the data, while using the contact-tracing mobile applications.

In the absence of any protocol regarding data privacy safeguards of the mobile applications, he said the state government could not have collaborated with any app developing agencies/ institutes for using the monitoring application, let alone making it mandatory for the individuals of the state to install/ download the applications.

Lyngdoh said the usage of the mobile applications in their current form and their mandatory imposition on the individuals in the absence of any anchoring legislation and privacy policies, constitute a “disproportionate invasion” of the constitutional rights of the public at large, and as such is “required to be declared as illegal, unconstitutional and arbitrary”.

Under the provisions of the Meghalaya Epidemic Diseases, COVID-19 Regulations, 2020, the government had ordered that all persons who have been recommended for home isolation/quarantine by the state government based on registration on the meghalayaonline.gov.in/covid portal or those who have registered on the 108 helpline or through other helplines, should download the Stay Safe Meghalaya app and agree to share their location till they are under home isolation.

The commissioner and secretary to the government of Meghalaya, health and family welfare department, in an order issued on March 29, said in the prevailing situation, there was an urgent need to ensure the safety of the citizens of the state through effective quarantine/isolation of all individuals with travel history.

Moreover, contact tracing would also have to be done in the eventuality of a larger outbreak.

To effectively monitor home quarantine, the government has also been using the Corontine App.