United Nurses Association Moves Kerala High Court, Challenging Nursing Council’s New Registration System for Nurses Terms it is a “Pure Violation of Privacy.
(Judicial Quest News Network)
A petition has been filed before the Kerala High Court by United Nurses Association challenging a recent Central government policy that requires nurses to provide personal information to a “private-body” for enrollment and registration is in violation of right to privacy,
The petition is filed by United Nurses Association (through its president Jasminsha M).
According to the Centra Government new registration policy it is prescribed by the Indian government for nurses as per which a nurse can work only in the particular State in which he or she is registered.
It is submitted that the Indian Nursing Council’s New Registration and Tracking System (NRTS) is violative of the nurses’ right to privacy. It set outs the twofold grievance.
The petition is filed through Advocate Sriram Parkkar, KR Sripathi and Anupama Subramanian.
It is submitted that Firstly, there is no single registration of nurses in India. Due to this, Nurses are not free to work all over India. Secondly, what appears to purportedly solve this problem is a notification which is neither a solution nor desirable but a pure violation of privacy. The petitioner association seeks a positive direction to the tune of One Registration for Nurses in India and quashing of the notification for violation of privacy.
The Association herein is deeply concerned about the difficulties faced by its member-nurses as a result of mandating the requirement of Individual State Registration in order to practice nursing in the respective state. That in addition, the procedural and administrative delay in obtaining such separate registration for each state is adding to the existing hardships and challenges in the availability of opportunities of the Indian nurses across the country. While so, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare issues a Public Notice dated 05.11.2020 informing about its proposal to finalize the National Nursing and Midwifery Commission Bill 2020 while repealing the Indian Nursing Council Act, 1947.
The petitioners are extremely concerned about the authorization of third-party M/S FINO-paytech, to collect this data.
here is a reasonable expectation on the part of every citizen that the State will serve as guardian and protector of their rights and that except in exceptional circumstances, the right shall not be infringed, at least not by a private authority with the aid of state.
The petitioners have further submitted that there is a reasonable expectation on the part of every citizen that the State will serve as guardian and protector of their rights and that except in exceptional circumstances the right shall not be infringed, at least not by a private authority with the aid of state.
Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic there is a reasonable expectation on the part of every citizen that the State will serve as guardian and protector of their rights and that except in exceptional circumstances, the right shall not be infringed, at least not by a private authority with the aid of state.
The petitioner association seeks a positive direction to the tune of One Registration for Nurses in India and quashing of the notification for violation of privacy.
It is pertinent to mention that in order to avail the benefits of NRTS system, the beneficiary-nurses are mandated to dispense with their personal identification details which included their mail IDs, mobile number, Aadhar authentication and photographs.
All this was under the purport of disseminating information about various Governmental schemes. Further, the duty of collection of the aforesaid details is assigned to a private body M/s FINO Paytech who would visit these nurses in their respective hospitals to collect the data.
That collection of data through the aforesaid mode is a serious instance of violation of privacy at a time when India does not have an appropriate legislation for the protection of personal data.
Also, there is a reasonable apprehension among the Petitioner that the data so collected could be put to use by the private organization whose credibility is a concern.
Further, the Hon’ble Supreme Court in Private Nursing Schools and Colleges Management Association vs The Indian Nursing Council and Ors, Civil Appeal No. 958 of 2019 while holding in affirmative clarified that the Nursing Council Act of 1947 has not restricted nor does it purport to restrict the nurses of their fundamental right under Article 19(1)(g) of the Constitution of India, to practice their occupation throughout the territory of India.
That the practice of separate registration process for each state pose as hindrance to the peaceful carrying out of occupation by nurses across India and therefore is violative of Article 19(1)(g). Further, the compulsory procurement of personal details of the nurses by a private organization with questionable credentials is in violation of right of privacy as upheld in Justice K.S. Puttaswamy vs. Union of India.
The petitioner has, therefore, prayed for quashing the November 6 notification and laying down a uniform registration scheme that is not likely to hurt the privacy of the nurses and which would ensure their right to freely move and work.
