Transport Ministry to junk bulk data policy; To share reports on data of vehicle registrations, DLs

The Union Transport Ministry has decided to junk Bulk Data Sharing Policy and Procedure instead it will share reports generated on analysis of the data of vehicle registration and driving licenses, will be made available to stakeholders or the public in future.

"In the recent meeting attended by officials of the Road Transport Ministry, the Home Ministry and National Informatics Centre, it was decided to scrap Data Sharing Policy issued in 2019 due to possible misuse of personal information and privacy issues", an official in the Transport Ministry said.

In future all data will be made available to any organisation as per Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019, which is pending in Parliament, said an official in the Ministry.

Instead of sharing 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 will be shared for use of citizens or stakeholders, said the official.

As per data sharing policy approved by the Ministry last year, the ministry shares the Vahan and Sarathi databases - which contain the details of registered vehicles, driving licenses in the country to any organisations with specific charges.

Apart from law enforcement agencies, the data will be shared among firms like automobile companies, banks, financial institutions, insurance companies for specific charges. This was mainly done to monitise the data with the Ministry of Transport and state government mainly to help them to study on various iasues including pattern of transport sector and impact on environment and purchasing capacity of public.

However when policy was approved last year, several experts urged the government to relook the decision apprehending possible privacy issues.