The ministry of defence has initiated legal action into the suspected data leak of over 54 lakh defence personnel and their family members. The Central government swung into action after THE WEEK published an update on inaction by the government on the sensitive issue.
"Legal action against the Score Information Technologies Ltd (SITL) has been initiated through litigation section in the Delhi High Court, and a legal notice to SITL has been issued by Advocate Ruchir Mishra of the Delhi High Court."
The matter was highlighted in March 2018 when a retired naval commodore Lokesh Batra received information through RTI, claiming that the data pertaining to the Ex-servicemen Contributory Health Scheme (ECHS) was compromised.
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The ministry claimed that, in the system of smart card, which was introduced in May 2015, the biometric data (thumb impression) of the individual was stored in the smart card. But, after termination of the contract, the ministry was not certain if the company had returned all the data or copied it for third party use. The issue was raised in the Parliament by Rajya Sabha member Majeed Memon in December 2018. The then ministry of state for defence Subhash Bhamre stated that "the data has been handed over to ECHS by SITL [private vendor]. However, some source codes and keys were not handed over. SITL has not given any confirmation regarding retention of copy of data by ESM. despite repeated reminders. Action has been initiated for taking legal action against the firm."
Navy officer Commodore Lokesh Batra (retired), who filed an RTI to seek an update on the matter, was called by the ministry on July 25. "When I inspected the files on July 25, there was no move to take action, something that should have been done on war footing. Even now, after seven months of committing to the Parliament, the government did not take any legal action against the said firm," Lokesh Batra told THE WEEK by adding that, "Only after matter was highlighted by THE WEEK, the ministry moved into action by issuing legal notice to the involved firm."
The ministry of defence admitted that “data regarding ex-servicemen is a sensitive issue”. But, the department of ex-servicemen, which works under the ministry of defence, was not certain whether the vendor, after termination of contract, had returned the stored data or retained a copy of it. The ministry of defence feared that, in the worst case scenario, the vendor could have shared it with a third party.
