# SC tells Centre to prevent misuse of PAN, EPFO data by private firms 2026-08-24T16:34:00+00:00 | Governance | Indian Opinion Desk Corroboration: 2 independent outlets The Supreme Court has directed the Union government to consider a representation alleging that private verification entities are misusing sensitive statutory data, including EPFO/UAN records and PAN-linked information. A bench of CJI Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V Mohana disposed of the PIL, asking the government to take necessary action within four months. The Court termed private access to sovereign data, given to the government under legislative mandate, and its commercial exploitation as worrisome. Petitioner Piyush Sharma told the Court that in a test, merely furnishing PAN and UAN to a private verification system returned his complete employment history without any OTP or consent. The petition flagged services like 'EPFO Passbook API' and 'Income Tax Return API', suggesting an unregulated ecosystem enabling commercial verification, moonlighting detection, and labour profiling. The Court said the matter fell within policy domain but required an antidote with expert assistance. ## Indian Opinion Analysis Both LivLaw and Times of India report the same Supreme Court order, but the framing differs subtly. LivLaw foregrounds the procedural outcome, the Court directing the government to consider the representation within four months, and names the petitioner and his counsel. Times of India leads with the Court's expressed concern about private access to 'sovereign data' and includes more detail of the petitioner's personal test, where no OTP was generated. The neutral reading: the Court treated the matter as a policy issue needing executive action, not immediate adjudication. The four-month deadline for a comprehensive decision is the concrete next step to watch. ## Coverage Coverage: 2 sources, 2 neutral - livelaw.in (neutral report) Leads with the Court's directive and timeline, emphasizes procedural order. - timesofindia.indiatimes.com (neutral report) Leads with judicial concern and petitioner's detailed account of security lapse. This story was synthesised by AI from the 2 sources linked above. Updated: this story now draws on 2 sources. Last updated 2026-08-24T23:41:18+00:00. Tags: CERT-In, data protection, EPFO, MeitY, PAN, Supreme Court of India Canonical: https://indianopinion.org/supreme-court-orders-govt-to-act-on-epfo-pan-data-breach-plea/ License: Summary and commentary (c) Indian Opinion, reusable with attribution. Facts belong to the linked sources. Cite: https://indianopinion.org/supreme-court-orders-govt-to-act-on-epfo-pan-data-breach-plea/#story-in-brief How this brief was made: an AI model read the reports linked above and wrote this summary and analysis, which were published automatically. Published briefs are sampled every hour by an automated quality check; the editor verifies its findings and approves corrections, and corrected briefs carry a dated correction line. Stance labels are editorial classifications of how each outlet framed this story, assigned by the same model, not ratings of the outlets. We do no original reporting. Methodology: https://indianopinion.org/ai-use-policy/