Why it is in the news
The Kerala High Court (Division Bench of Chief Justice Soumen Sen and Justice Syam Kumar V.M.) disposed of WP(PIL) 15/2026, C.R. Neelakandan v Union of India, a petition on the handling of passenger data at airports through Digi Yatra, after the Union’s counsel stated that the Data Protection Board of India “has been constituted but has not been made functional”. The Bench recorded its expectation that the Board will be made functional within eight weeks; The Hindu reports this as a direction to the Centre. It also observed that the privacy of citizens was being compromised, noted that the Digi Yatra Foundation accepts Aadhaar and driving licence as identity proof, and expressed the expectation that authorities may also accept Voter ID. The order was reported on 10 October 2026 and carried in the 12 October 2026 editions.
The exam angle
Issue: India has a data-protection statute with penalties and rights but no functioning adjudicatory body three years after enactment, so the High Court has had to prompt the executive to staff it.