Supreme Court Asks Centre to Examine Alleged Misuse of EPFO and Tax Data

The Supreme Court has directed the Union government to examine allegations that private verification entities may be accessing and commercially using sensitive employment and financial data linked to EPFO, UAN, PAN and income-tax records.

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A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V. Mohana passed the direction on August 24 while hearing a PIL filed by Piyush Chhabra.

The Court disposed of the petition and asked the Union and other concerned authorities to consider the petitioner’s representations and take necessary steps to prevent possible misuse of data.

What Did the PIL Raise?

The petition raised concerns about private employment-verification services allegedly accessing, retrieving or processing information linked to EPFO/UAN records and PAN-linked tax data.

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The petitioner referred to services advertising products such as “EPFO Passbook API”, “Form 26AS API” and “Income Tax Return API”. He questioned whether such systems had a lawful basis, proper consent mechanisms and adequate technical safeguards for accessing or verifying government-held information.

The petitioner also claimed that, in some private verification systems, providing PAN and UAN details could result in retrieval of employment history without an OTP or explicit consent.

These are allegations made in the petition and have not been established by the Supreme Court as facts.

Supreme Court Seeks Government Action

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The Court directed the Union and other official respondents to consider the petitioner’s comprehensive representations and take necessary action to prevent misuse of data collected by the EPFO and Income Tax Department.

The Court said it would appreciate a comprehensive decision, preferably within four months. The matter was treated as falling substantially within the policy domain, with the government being asked to examine the concerns raised.

No Finding of a Data Breach

The Supreme Court order does not establish that EPFO or Income Tax Department databases have been breached, nor does it say that private companies can freely access a person’s EPFO records, employment history or income-tax returns using only a PAN or UAN.

The issue before the Court was whether the allegations about access, verification, sharing or commercial use of such information require examination by the government and whether additional safeguards may be needed.

Why It Matters for Employees

The matter has implications for employment background verification because EPFO and UAN-linked information can reveal aspects of a person’s employment history. Income-tax records, including ITR, Form 26AS and AIS-linked information, can contain sensitive financial details.

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The PIL has therefore raised questions about how such information is accessed by private verification entities, what consent is required and whether government-held data is being used only for the purposes for which it was collected.

For now, the allegations remain subject to examination by the concerned authorities. The government’s response is expected to clarify whether any unauthorised access is taking place, how such access may occur and what safeguards are required.

Key Points

• Supreme Court directed the Centre to examine concerns over possible misuse of EPFO, UAN, PAN and income-tax data.
• The PIL was filed by Piyush Chhabra and raised concerns about private employment-verification services accessing sensitive records.
• The Court asked the government to examine the representations and take necessary action.
• The Court did not establish that EPFO or Income Tax databases had been breached.
• The case raises questions around employee consent, data access and privacy in background verification.

Case: Piyush Chhabra v. Union of India & Ors., Diary No. 30527/2026.