CUTTACK: The Orissa High Court on Friday allowed a writ petition challenging the manner in which consent was sought from parents for generation of an Automated Permanent Academic Account Registry (APAAR) ID for students, and directed the authorities to amend the form to clearly provide an opt-out or refusal of consent option.
The order was passed by a single judge bench of Justice Sashikanta Mishra in a petition filed by Rohit Anand Das and his minor daughter, Nirvika Anand Das, a KG-I student of Sai International School, Bhubaneswar. The petitioner had received a letter dated December 28, 2024 from the school seeking consent, along with a copy of Aadhaar, for creation of APAAR ID.
APAAR, introduced by the Ministry of Education on July 29, 2023, is part of the ‘one student, one unique ID’ initiative, linking student IDs with Aadhaar to track lifelong educational records. The petitioners contended that the consent form did not provide any option to refuse consent at the outset despite the scheme being described as voluntary, and raised concerns of infringement of the fundamental right to privacy.
Justice Mishra noted the grievance that the consent form contained clauses under which personal information could be made available to other entities for “limited purposes and stakeholders, etc.”, without clarity. Deputy Solicitor General of India PK Parhi submitted that from all the communications, instructions and guidelines issued by the MoE, it was evident that creation of APAAR ID of the students is a voluntary initiative and parents can always opt out of the scheme. It was also argued that the model consent form permitted withdrawal of consent at a later stage.
However, Justice Mishra observed, “A careful reading of the different clauses of the consent form reveals that there is no option to refuse consent at the initial stage. Withdrawal of consent as per the last paragraph of the consent form cannot be treated as giving an effective right to the parent to protect his privacy because by such time the consent would already have been given.”
Emphasising that right to privacy is a fundamental right, Justice Mishra agreed with the petitioners that the model consent form was not worded strictly in consonance with the avowed objective of making the scheme voluntary.
Allowing the petition, he directed the authorities to consider amending the model consent form to include a clear opt-out/refusal clause, and pass necessary orders within two months.