Supreme Court Flags Private Access To EPFO, ITR Data, Asks Centre To Strengthen Safeguards

The Supreme Court has expressed concern over the alleged access of sensitive provident fund and income tax information by private entities, calling the development “worrisome” and asking the Centre to consider stronger safeguards against misuse of personal data.

According to a report by PTI, a bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana raised the issue during a hearing on Monday.

The court was hearing a PIL filed by Piyush Sharma, who alleged that personal information submitted to government authorities could potentially be accessed and commercially exploited by private companies.

Court Seeks Safeguards For Sensitive Data

The petitioner claimed that a personal inquiry showed that providing his PAN and Universal Account Number (UAN) to a private verification system resulted in the retrieval of his complete employment history associated with those identifiers.

He alleged that the process did not require an OTP, explicit consent or any apparent identity verification through an authorisation mechanism.

The petition did not allege that government agencies had leaked the information. Instead, it raised concerns about whether data collected by statutory authorities could subsequently be accessed by private entities without adequate safeguards.

Private Data Access Raises Privacy Concerns

The petitioner pointed to the emergence of commercial employment-verification systems that allegedly rely on information connected with statutory employment and financial records.

Such information could potentially be used for employment verification, detecting dual employment or moonlighting, labour-market profiling and other employment-related decisions.

The Supreme Court said the matter primarily falls within the government's policy domain and declined to entertain the PIL. However, the bench took note of the concerns surrounding private access to personal information provided to the government under legal requirements.

Chief Justice Surya Kant suggested that the Centre could develop an effective mechanism to address the issue with assistance from domain experts.

The court also asked the government to take necessary measures to prevent private enterprises from misusing individual data.