ASSESSMENT MOOT PROPOSITION 2021

Mr. Garry Potter

1. Hogwarts is a country located in the Southern region of the world and had been a colony of
Voldermort for over 100 years. Hogwarts, upon independence from Voldermort on July 31 st,
1947, enacted its Constitution which laid down that it would follow the parliamentary form
of governance, as against monarchy followed by Voldermort, with a federal structure based
on the principles of justice, equality, liberty, fraternity, free and fair elections being held by
an independent election commission, transparency and accountability of the state and
secularism as its core values. Hogwarts has created three pillars for democratic form of
governance –the Legislature, the Executive and the Judiciary. The said pillars are
autonomous in their functioning and are considered to be the basic structure of its
Constitution. An apex court has also been established under this regime which has the
highest power in the country and is also made the protectorof the Constitution holding
appellate and review powers.
2. In the year 2010, Hogwarts Government constituted a special agency to allot a Personal
Identification Number (PIN) card to each and every citizen of the country to regulate the
affairs in a better manner. The PIN card would serve as a one-stop unique identification card
which would link all the information relating to the citizen and the same was made
mandatory. In pursuance of this initiative in 2011, the special agency, Personal Identification
Authority of Hogwarts (PIDAH) became fully functional under the Chairmanship of Ms.
Nandni Smilekami. PIDAH decided to outsource the task of collecting data from the citizens
to certain private entities in different cities and towns who would gather personal information
like finger prints of both the hands, scanning of iris of the eyes, blood group, spouse and
children details, their educational qualifications, number of spouses, the religion to which
both spouse belong to, laws under which marriage is solemnized, details of life-threatening

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 diseases, permanent infertility both in male and female and criminal/civil cases pending in
any court and government loan or any other liability on the citizen.
3. On 20th November, 2015, in the winter session of the Parliament, the Government passed a
legislation called the PIN Act which made it mandatory for all citizens to register for PIN
Card by providing all the personal details including biometric details. It also linked all the
schemes of the Government and stated that in order to avail any benefits pursuant to the
schemes the PIN would be mandatory. This legislation was divided into various chapters
dealing with applicability over the whole of Hogwarts, enrolment and authentication,
statutory authority of PIDAH, process of data collection and storage, data protection policies
and penalties for certain offences. On 25th February 2016, a notification was issued which
stated that the PIN card is also mandatory for issuing as well as holding aPAN card, Driving
License, Passports, opening bank account and existing bank accounts, etc. Furthermore, the
said notification laid down that all citizens are required to compulsorily link all details to the
PIN card latest by March, 2017 and in the absence of compliance,actions could be initiated
along with depriving citizens of the benefits from various schemes of the Government.
4. On 17th September, 2016, a group of hackers by the name of ‘Anonymous’ hacked into the
database of PIDAH which leaked the data of around 50 million citizens which included their
personal and sensitive was data such as their sexual orientation, diseases, passwords of
various back accounts, etc.After the said leak it became evidently clear that data of the
citizens of the country is in the hands of companies and authorities which are incapable of
protecting the same. Furthermore, it was revealed that the said data was being used by the
established government for communal profiling of communities, bytelemarketing agencies
forinfluencing consumers/citizens to buy their products. It also raised several concerns about
the data capable of being used for any other work which is unauthorized by law.
5. In light of the above stated leak and the subsequent concerns, Mr. Garry Totter filed a Public
Interest Litigation (PIL) on 3rd December, 2016 in the High Court of Burrow under Article
226 of the Constitution of Hogwarts challenging the PIN Act, 2015. The said petition was
filed on the grounds that the Act demands, collects and stores personal and sensitive data
which is a part of one’s personality and therefore, violates the fundamental right to privacy
enshrined under Art. 21 of the Hogwarts Constitution. Furthermore, the PIL also challenged
Section 57 of the Act which makes it mandatory for the citizens to register and link all their

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 personal and sensitive information violating the right to freedom of speech and expression
guaranteed under Art. 19 of the Constitution, depriving the citizens of their right to remain
silent and not to part with basic information about oneself. Lastly, the petitioner also
challenged the whole scheme as being illegal having no legal or statutory basis for making
the PIN cards mandatory for all citizens.
6. The High Court of Burrow on the basis of the petitioner’s contentions passed an interim
order on 15th December, 2016 directing the government to do away with the provisions
which made it mandatory for citizens to have a PIN card. The High Court also made an
observation that the data collected by government is not safe and it can be leaked to private
entities very easily threatening the life and liberty of the citizens.
7. Mr. Garry Totter in the PIL had prayed to the high Court to repeal the whole of the PIN Act,
2015, however, the High Court refused to do the same and only repealed provisions which
made it compulsory for citizens to have PIN cards. Regarding the other provisions, the High
Court decided to pursue the matter, keeping in mind the urgency, by way of on day-to-day
hearings.
8. The Government of Hogwarts filed an application against the interim order before the High
Court on 23rd December, 2016 requesting that the PIN card should be made mandatory for
availing benefits under different government schemes and initiates such as the different
subsidy programs, applying for cylinder connections, ration cards, mobile connections and
bank accounts. The High Court allowed government’s plea permitting PIN cards to be
mandatory for benefit schemes and initiatives.
9. The High Court of Burrow delivered the final judgment on this matter on 25 th January, 2017
ruling against the petitioner and declared the PIN cards and the PIN Act, 2015
constitutionally valid and also made PIN cards mandatory for government schemes and
initiatives. The interim order passed earlier was made a part of the final judgment and
directed the Government to formulate a data protection law laying down stricter data security
measures to avoid any leaks in the future. The said decision was based on the principles of
necessity and proportionality, keeping in mind the welfare of public at large, as it will
eradicate the problem of duplicity of identities. The reliance on collection of data by private
entities was justified for it is impossible for Government to procure adequate resources and
staff for this purpose.

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10. Post the decision of the High Court of Burrow, the Government made certain amendments in
the Law and Technology Act of 2001 along with the Hogwarts Penal Code, the Evidence Act
and the Contract Act laying down stricter cyber security measures. A committee headed by a
retired Apex Court judge has also been constituted to prepare a Sensitive Data Protection Act
(SDPA) for protection of sensitive and critical personal data of its citizens. However, the
formulation of the said Act is still in pipeline.
11. Aggrieved by the decision of the High Court of Burrow, the petitioner Mr. Garry Totter, on
14th February, 2017, moved to the Apex Court of Hogwarts by way of a Special Leave
Petition provided for under the Constitution of Hogwarts. The SLP prayed the AC to quash
the decision of the HC and declare the PIN Act, 2015 ultra vires to the Constitution as well
as violative of Art. 21 and Art. 19 of the Constitution along with other laws of Hogwarts.The
PIDAH has also been made a party to this case. The AC has decided to rule upon the
following issues raised by the petitioner:
I. Whether the Apex Court of Hogwarts has the jurisdiction to entertain the Special
Leave Petition filed by the Petitioner.
II. Whether the PIN Act, 2015 allowing for collection of personal and sensitive data,
especially by private agencies, violates the fundamental right to privacy enshrined
under Art. 21 of the Constitution of Hogwarts.
III. Whether the provisions of the PIN Act, 2015 along with the interim order violate the
right to freedom of speech and expression including right to remain silent under Art.
19 of the Hogwarts Constitution.

Note: The laws of Hogwarts are pari materia to the laws of India along with the Constitution
being pari materia to the Constitution of India.