The Commissionerate of College Education, Andhra Pradesh, has published the Aadhaar details of over 64,000 students on their website, The Times of India reported on Monday. Details of 64,807 intermediate and degree-level students in all 13 districts have been put up on the website, under the public “Know Your College” section.
Apart from the students’ Aadhaar number, details such as caste, gender, college, course name and district have also been put up on the website, MediaNama reported citing information it had accessed.
Former MLC K Lakshmana Rao told The Times of India that the commissionerate collected this information to avoid duplication in scholarships and fee reimbursement. However, the details were uploaded without the students’ consent.
Unidentified commissionerate officials claimed that the mistake was unintentional. “The links were taken from college managements’ website, from the students in 2015-’16,” an official of the Academic Cell said. “However, we will talk to technical heads and sort out the matter by Monday.” But the officials of the Academic Cell were not aware even of the URL where this information was available, The Times of India reported.
Limited-time offer: Big stories, small price. Keep independent media alive. Become a Scroll member today!
Our journalism is for everyone. But you can get special privileges by buying an annual Scroll Membership. Sign up today!