Violation Of Privacy, Discrimination And Ill-treatment: Madras High Court Quashes Order Seeking Collection Of Sensitive Data Of Govt School Students
The Court said that it is an absolute abuse of power to demoralise the students who have stigmatic background.
The Madras High Court has quashed a government order that mandated the collection of sensitive personal information from students in grades 9 through 12.
The Court found that the data collection process—intended to identify students facing various social or personal "stigmas"—was both discriminatory and a violation of fundamental rights.
The Division Bench of Justice G Jayachandran and Justice KK Ramakrishnan observed, “It is not explained as to what is the special attention that is are going to show to the students. The information are very sensitive and manner in which they are going to collect, will necessarily traverse into the privacy of the young students. The third respondent claims that as parens patriae, they need to document this information. The Teachers are requested to collect the data and forward it through EMIS website as per the demo video annexed to the impugned order…The data sought to be collected as well as the manner in which, it is to be documented, in our view is absolutely in violation of privacy and such information sought to be collected from the students, who are pursuing their studies in Model School run by the Government, is clear discrimination and ill-treatment of the students of the Model School and contrary to the judgment of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of Justice K.S.Puttaswamy (Retd.) and another vs. Union of India and others…”.
Advocate M. Aboobacker Siddik appeared for the Petitioner, while Government Pleader P. Thilakkumar appeared for the Respondents.
The writ petition was filed as Public Interest Litigation, being aggrieved by the manner in which certain sensitive data from the students from 9th to 12th standard, was sought to be collected from the Member Secretary, Model School, Tamil Nadu Education Department.
The Court noted that the impugned proceedings of the Principal Secretary indicated that these information were collected to show some special attention on the students suffering from the following stigmas, such as, Students With Both Parents Not Alive, Student from Refugee Backgrounds, Student in Conflict with Law, Children of Parents who are prisoner, Student from Nomadic and Gypsy Communities, Student with Special Needs, Student who have Parents/Dependents with Special Needs, Student from Urban Tenements, Student with Separated or Divorced Parents / Student living with extended family though both parents are alive, Wards of Sanitary Workers, Student Who Are Dependents of Terminally ill (Parents/Siblings), Migrant Student from Other States, Students with Gender Non-Conformity Issues, Student from SC/SCA Community, Student from ST Community, First Generation Graduate, Student Involved in Co-Curricular Activities, Student with Parents from Fishing background or Fishing occupation, Children in need of care and protection, Student who is a survivor of abuse and violence, Student with history of substance abuse, Student from areas needing more support and student whose parents are folklore artists.
“This Court finds that it is an absolute abuse of power to demoralise the students, who have stigmatic background,” the Court observed.
Accordingly, the Court allowed the writ petition and quashed the impugned order.
Cause Title: Ameer Alam v. The Government of Tamil Nadu Ors. [W.P.(MD)No.29474 of 2025]
Appearances:
Petitioner: Advocate M. Aboobacker Siddik
Respondents: Government Pleader P. Thilakkumar with Advocate Kavitha Deenadhayalan