Now Reading: Supreme Court orders probe into private firms’ use of ITR, EPFO data
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Supreme Court orders probe into private firms’ use of ITR, EPFO data
The Supreme Court has directed the government to investigate allegations that private verification companies are accessing and commercially using sensitive personal data, including income tax returns (ITR) and Employees' Provident Fund Organisation…
The Supreme Court has directed the government to investigate allegations that private verification companies are accessing and commercially using sensitive personal data, including income tax returns (ITR) and Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) records. The court did not hold any specific company guilty but expressed concern over the potential misuse of data such as PAN and UAN details.
A public interest litigation (PIL) claimed that some firms are obtaining employment and financial data linked to EPFO, Form 26AS, and ITR for verification purposes. The government has been asked to examine the matter with domain experts and take necessary steps within four months to prevent misuse and strengthen data security.
Indian Opinion Analysis
The case raises a question about how far private background verification can go under Indian data protection law, which is still being finalised even after the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 received presidential assent. The court has not yet framed specific rules for such commercial access to government databases. The real issue is whether the existing authentication systems of EPFO and the income tax department have a loophole that allows intermediaries to pull citizen data without explicit consent. The government's response, due within four months, will set a precedent on how much financial and employment data can be legally verified by private entities.
Source: bazaar.businesstoday.in
This story was synthesised by AI from the source linked above.
