The Kerala High Court on Friday issued notice to State government and others on a public interest writ petition against the government order introducing a special medical insurance scheme for migrant workers, called Aawaz, with a chip-based identity card containing biometric details of workers.
The petition was filed by Justitia, a Kozhikode-based organisation.
According to it, the scheme was introduced with a view to providing free medial aid up to ₹15,000 to migrant labourers. The ID cards for the scheme, which contained the biometric details of workers, would deprive them of their right to privacy. The order did not mention about the additional benefits that would be accrued to the workers because of the collection of the biometric details. In fact, the workers had to produce other ID proofs such as Aadhaar cards, Voter Identity Cards to get themselves enrolled in the scheme. The petitioner said that the officers of the Labour Department were compelling the migrant workers to enrol in the scheme.
The petition, while seeking to set aside the order, also pleaded for a declaration that the issue of chip-based ID cards with biometric details was violation of the fundamental right to privacy.
