Court Rules Collection of Sensitive Student Data Violates Right to Privacy
The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court has delivered a landmark judgment on January 5, 2026, quashing the Tamil Nadu Education Department's initiative to collect sensitive personal data from students. The court ruled that the data collection process infringes upon the students' constitutionally protected right to privacy. This decision has been hailed as a significant step in safeguarding the privacy rights of students in educational settings.
The writ petition, filed by Ameer Alam, challenged the data collection process initiated by the Member Secretary of the Model School under the Tamil Nadu Education Department. The collected data included sensitive information about students' family backgrounds and personal circumstances, such as whether students had deceased parents, came from refugee backgrounds, or belonged to marginalized communities.
The court found that the collection of such sensitive data was discriminatory and amounted to an abuse of power. The judgment referenced the Supreme Court's ruling in Justice K.S. Puttaswamy (Retd.) v. Union of India, which recognized privacy as a fundamental right under Article 21 of the Indian Constitution. The court underscored that privacy encompasses the preservation of personal intimacies and the right to be left alone.
During the proceedings, the court noted the inability of the Tamil Nadu Education Department to justify the necessity of collecting such data. The department's representative could not provide a clear explanation of how the data would be used to benefit the students. As a result, the court deemed the data collection initiative as demoralizing for students from stigmatized backgrounds.
In its order, the court concluded that the data collection violated the principles of privacy as established by the Supreme Court and was an unjustified intrusion into the personal lives of students. Consequently, the impugned order was quashed, and the writ petition was allowed. The court's decision is expected to have far-reaching implications for data privacy practices within educational institutions across the state.
Bottom Line:
The collection of sensitive personal data from students by the Tamil Nadu Education Department violates their right to privacy as upheld by the Supreme Court in Justice K.S. Puttaswamy (Retd.) v. Union of India and others, AIR 2017 SC 4161. Such data collection amounts to discrimination and ill-treatment of students.
Statutory provision(s): Article 21 of the Constitution of India
Ameer Alam v. Government of Tamilnadu, (Madras)(Madurai Bench)(DB) : Law Finder Doc id # 2842726
