An RTI filed two months back has revealed that the National Informatics Centre (NIC), which designs government websites and falls under the Ministry of Electronics, has no information about the creators of the Aarogya Setu app. The Central Information Commission (CIC) on Tuesday asked the National Informatics Centre (NIC) why it does not have information about the creators of the app when the Aarogya Setu website mentions that it was designed, developed and hosted by NIC.
Responding to the development, the Ministry of Electronic and Information Technology on Wednesday clarified that the Aarogya Setu app has been developed in the most transparent manner. “On all such occasions, it has been clearly mentioned that the Aarogya Setu App has been developed by NIC in collaboration with volunteers from industry and academia. Aarogya Setu app has been developed in the most transparent manner,” the ministry said in a statement. It added, “As was announced through press releases and social media posts on 2nd April 2020, Aarogya Setu App was launched by Government of India in public private partnership mode to bring people of India together in its fight against Covid-19.”
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, the ministry said. It also added that the app has been developed in a collaborative effort by the government and the private sector and has been downloaded by more than 16.23 crore users and has greatly augmented the efforts of frontline health workers in the fight against Covid-19.
The CIC also issued show-cause notices to various Chief Public Information Officers (CPIOs) as well as the National e-Governance Division (NeGD), Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), and NIC for giving an evasive response to an RTI application related the contact tracing app that has crores of users. “The Commission directs the CPIO, NIC to explain this matter in writing as to how the website https://aarogyasetu.gov.in/ was created with the domain name gov.in, if they do not have any information about it,” Information Commissioner Vanaja N. Sarna said in the order, first reported by LiveLaw.com.
The development comes in a complaint filed by one Saurav Das, stating that the relevant authorities, i.e., NIC, National E-Governance Division (NeGD) and Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), had failed to furnish information about the process of the creation of the Aarogya Setu App and other information relating to its creation.
He submitted that the RTI was filed with the NIC, which stated that it “does not hold the information” relating to the App’s creation, which is very surprising since it is the App’s developer.