Vijayawada: The officials of Commissionerate of College Education, Andhra Pradesh, have put the privacy of thousands of students at risk by publishing their Aadhaar card details on the website.

In a major goof up by the officials, details of 64,807 students have been put up on the website, for the viewing of the public under the ‘Know your college’ section. This data belongs to the degree and intermediate college students in all the thirteen districts, collected in the 2015-16 year.

“I am not aware of the fact that my Aadhaar Unique Identification Number (UID) is put up on the website. How can the government furnish such critical information without our consent?,” lamented Radhika, final year degree student from Krishna district.

The college managements collected the data from students to avoid discrepancies and duplications in issuing scholarships, fee reimbursement and not attendance of the students, informed former MLC, KS Lakshmana Rao. However, he pointed that it is not correct from the government’s part to publish these details on the website. National chief of Swecha, Free Software organisation, Kiran Chandra, flayed the AP government for this negligence. “In an age when digital integration is happening at various levels, students are at the highest risk of facing identity theft with their Aadhaar UIDs made public. It is like putting their whole life on a public platform,” he lamented.

Kiran Chandra also added that the students could face issues during Visa applications and job interviews if any miscreant creates graphic content on the internet using their personal details. Reminding of the embarrassment Telecom Regulatory Authority of India chairman RS Sharma faced after sharing his Aadhaar number on twitter. “This could happen to any of these students now, with the careless and callous attitude of the governments in protecting the privacy of the students,” he added.

On the other hand, the officials at the commissionerate, speaking to TOI, said that the mistake was not intentional. “The links were taken from college managements’ website, from the students in 2015-16. However, we will talk to the technical heads in the department and sort the issue by Monday,” said David, Academic Cell incharge. However, it is to be noted that the department officials claimed that they were not aware of the issue. When it was taken up with the academic cell officials, they had to ask for the URL address from the reporter.

One year since the Supreme Court gave a judgment saying that Right to privacy is a fundamental right of every citizen, the complacent attitude towards a breach of this magnitude from the government is being criticised by the students and parents alike. “Where is the accountability from the government. Who will take responsibility if a student loses his job tomorrow because of identity theft caused by this leak? And this is not the first time such incidents happened in AP,” said Kiran Chandra.

