Delhi High Court: Petitioner filed the present petition seeking directions to the Union of India to ensure that the travel companies, particularly foreign travel companies, which collect personal data, including name, address, phone number, Aadhaar, passport details etc. during ticket booking were kept completely confidential and not shared with anyone. The Division Bench of Manmohan, ACJ, and Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora, J., noted that petitioner had not filed any representation with the Union of India before approaching the present Court. Thus, the Court disposed of the present writ petition with liberty to petitioner to raise its grievances with the Union of India. The Court further clarified that it had not commented on the merits of the issue, and the rights and contentions of all the parties were left open.
Petitioner stated that foreign travel companies not only collected the data of common man but also collected the personal data of law makers, ministers, judges, defence personnel, civil servants and their family members. Further, he also submitted that atleast three major foreign travel companies, which were running their operations in India, were partially or fully owned by foreign investors, leading to concerns regarding potential misuse of citizens’ data, especially the Aadhaar and passport details.
However, the Court after perusal of the paper book noted that petitioner had not filed any representation with the Union of India before approaching the present Court. Thus, the Court disposed of the present writ petition with liberty to petitioner to raise its grievances with the Union of India. Further, if such a representation was filed, the Court directed that same to be decided by way of a reasoned order in accordance with law as expeditiously as possible. The Court further clarified that it had not commented on the merits of the issue, and the rights and contentions of all the parties were left open.
[Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay v. Union of India, W.P.(C) 4837 of 2024, Order dated 03-04-2024]
Advocates who appeared in this case :
For the Respondents: Ravi Prakash, CGSC with Amit Gupta, Vinay Yadav, Saurabh Tripathi, Astu Khandelwal, Pinky Pawar, Vikramaditya Singh, Yasharth Shukla, Advocates.
