NPR violates right to privacy: PIL in top court

New Delhi: The Supreme Court Monday sought response from the Centre on a public interest plea challenging the updating of the National Population Register for violating the right to privacy as information sought to be collected does not satisfy the test of “legality, need and proportionality”.

A bench comprising of Chief Justice S.A. Bobde and Justices B.R. Gavai and Surya Kant issued notice to the Centre on the PIL that assailed the scheduled updating of the NPR over information sought from people by enumerators in door-to-door census.

The notification for updating the NPR was issued on July 31, 2019. The petitioners Udagar Ram, Bimalesh Kumar Yadav and Sanjay Safi described themselves as farmers from Bihar.

In the six-month-long exercise beginning April 1, 2020 and concluding September 30, 2020, census officers will collect information on the house, predominant floor material, wall and roof, drinking water, lighting, latrines, waste water outlets, bathroom facility, use of LPG/PNG connections, main fuel used for cooking, main cereal consumed, laptop/computer, telephone/mobile phone/smartphone and other information.

The enumerators will also collect personal information, including details of father, mother, spouse, aadhaar card, voter identity card and driving license numbers.

According to the petitioners, the updating of NPR is “manifestly arbitrary” as it seeks to put Indian citizens, non-citizens including those desirous of an OCI “at par in as much as the same information is sought from the entire population of persons residing within the territorial boundaries of India.”