Kathmandu. The Supreme Court on Friday issued a historic and far-reaching order regarding the privacy and security of individuals, including identity and personal details.
A division bench of Justices Sapana Pradhan Malla and Meghraj Pokharel issued the order while hearing the writ petition filed by advocate Sarita Adhikari. It also issued a directive order in the name of the government to issue a special act to ensure the security, protection and privacy of sensitive personal information, including biological identity.
Although the Government of Nepal claimed that the Security Standards 2082 were issued by constituting a Data Protection Committee under the chairmanship of the Home Secretary, the Supreme Court has termed it as inadequate. The guidelines or standards issued by the executive or administrative bodies cannot guarantee the constitutional right to privacy of citizens Article 28 and full protection of biological data. For this, an independent, transparent and stringent Data Protection Act passed by the Parliament should be enacted immediately.
Since biological details such as a person’s fingerprint and iris are highly sensitive and highly sensitive, theft or leakage of such data can cause permanent damage. The Supreme Court has ruled that an independent regulatory authority should be set up to prevent misuse of data, monitor it, hear complaints and take action.
The current situation and the risk of data security Currently, the National Identity Card and Registration Department has collected the details of more than 20.7 million citizens and 539 data collection centers are functional. However, in the absence of a strong cybersecurity infrastructure and separate data protection law in Nepal, there is a serious risk of data leakage while exchanging data with government and private banks.
The Supreme Court has directed the government to create a secure system where banks or third parties verify data without directly having access to biological details and can only answer whether it is through encryption and tokenization system or not.
This decision will compel the government and parliament to enact a legislative act related to data security and digital rights in Nepal. Prevent administrative arbitrariness The ministry or regulatory body has set the limit of the circular or directive issued by the Rastra Bank to curtail the fundamental rights of the citizens.
The principle has been established that the implementation of technology and digital systems should cause minimum hardship to the citizens and the rules should not be imposed in such a way that the economic life of the citizens can be brought to a standstill. Biological data such as sensitive fingerprints and retinas of the citizen will be protected from the risk of misuse by third parties or commercial organizations.
This verdict of the Supreme Court has not brought a complete end to the journey of Digital Nepal, but has laid the foundation to make it safe, responsible and citizen-friendly. This verdict has given the message that technology and digital identity are tools to facilitate services, they cannot become weapons to deprive citizens of their rights. Now it would be wise for the government to take the digital system forward only by immediately bringing a strict Data Protection Act and forming an independent regulatory body.
