New Delhi: Union transport minister Nitin Gadkari on Thursday informed the parliament that the government has earned over Rs 100 crores by providing access of Vahan and Sarathi databases to private entities.
This data has been shared with law enforcement agencies, the home ministry, auto, freight and insurance companies. Therefore, a list of around 170 parties with which the two databases have been shared include BMW, Axis Bank, Bajaj Allianz General Insurance, L&T Financial Services, Mercedes Benz, and several others.
In response to the question in Lok Sabha Gadkari stated that “The revenue collected by the Government by providing access to Vahan and Sarathi database is Rs 1,11,38,79,757.”
However, the transport ministry has discarded the bulk data sharing policy issued in 2019 which therefore allowed the ministry to share the Vahan and Sarathi databases, which contain details of registered vehicles and driving licenses in the country.
Considering the privacy policy, the ministry of road transport and highways in June last year junked the policy of sharing data, citing potential misuse of personal information and privacy issues.
Further, in response to a question whether the government would demand deletion of such data collected by private entities, Gadkari said that “no such proposal was under consideration.”
Sharing of vehicular data will now be done on the basis of the Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019.
“It was decided that rather than sharing the bulk data with any company or organization on the cost basis, reports generated on the basis of analysis of the vehicular data available in the National Register on the portal may be shared for use of Citizens or Stakeholders,” read the minutes of the meeting wherein the decision was taken.
