Introduction
Welcome to Apex Advocates Website!!!
This Privacy Policy is developed and published pursuant to inter-alia,
the Information Technology Act, 2000 ("IT Act") and the rules made
thereunder. In this policy, we will deal with:
a. Type of personal information
we collect;
b. Purposes for which
we collect and use such information;
c. How we process,
disclose and protect such information.
1.
General
This Policy applies to collection of information from:
a. Persons accessing
our website;
b. Clients and
potential clients;
c. Applicants
interested in working with us, including interns;
This policy does not govern
collection and processing of information by us in the course of provision of
our services, or otherwise by virtue of entering into any engagement or other
contractual obligations. In such cases, the terms and conditions governing the
provision of our services, engagement agreement or other contractual terms will
be applicable.
2. Collection
a. In terms of the
Information Technology (Reasonable Security Practices and Procedures and
Sensitive Personal Data or Information) Rules, 2011 ("IT Rules"),
‘sensitive personal data or information’ of a person means such personal
information which consists of information relating to:
i.
password;
ii.
financial information such as Bank account or credit card or debit card
or other payment instrument details;
iii.
physical, physiological and mental health condition;
iv.
sexual orientation;
v.
medical records and history;
vi.
biometric information;
vii.
any detail relating to the above classes as provided to body corporate
for providing service; and
viii.
any of the information received under any of the classes (a) to (g)
above, by a body corporate for processing, stored or processed under lawful
contract or otherwise.
Further, any information that is freely available or accessible in
public domain or furnished under the Right to Information Act, 2005 or any
other law for the time being in force shall not be regarded as sensitive
personal data or information for the purposes of the IT Rules.
In terms of other applicable data protection laws, personal data means
any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person.
b. We may collect
information from you of a nature, which may fall within any of the classes
above. Common examples of such personal information, include but are not
limited to:
i.
your full name, parents’ names, temporary and permanent address,
telephone numbers and email address;
ii.
age, date of birth and in case you work with us, biometrics such as
finger prints;
iii.
previous employment details including previous job title, names of
previous employers, your previous compensation and financial statement;
iv.
information and documents including prior correspondence with our firm;
v.
financial information in relation to payments due and / or received;
vi.
details about when and how frequently you have accessed our website you
IP address and location.
c. Acceptance
i.
While we may collect some information under paragraphs 3 (b) (i), (ii), (iii)
and 3(b)(vi) above when you access our website, we may also collect other personal
information from you, with your prior consent.
ii.
You do hereby, accept and consent to the collection, use, storage,
processing and sharing or disclosure of your information as described in this
privacy policy and in accordance with the applicable data protection laws.
iii.
In the event any information collected from you contains information
relating to third parties, you agree that you have collected such information
in compliance with applicable law and are duly authorised to furnish it to us.
iv.
Our firm reserves the right to, at its discretion, modify this policy at
any time. This policy, as modified from time to time will be available on our
website. Please ensure that you visit our website to keep abreast with all such
modifications. By further accessing our website or providing us with your
information you will be deemed to have accepted all such modifications.
v.
In the event of a change in the applicable law, your consent shall be
deemed to valid to the extent permissible under applicable law. To the extent
required by any such change, we may seek additional consents and authorisations
from you.
3. Purposes of
Collection and Use of Information
a. The information you
may share with us will be used, stored and processed in compliance with the IT
Act, IT Rules and other applicable laws relating to data protection, for the
above purposes of or in connection with:
i.
operating our website and improving its functioning, technical and other
parameters to cater to a better user experience and to align it to the beliefs
of our firm;
ii.
providing legal updates to you;
iii.
complying with applicable law;
iv.
processing applications received from you and responding to the same;
v.
processing queries raised and received and responding to the same;
vi.
internal purposes such as creating and maintaining records;
vii.
providing information to auditors, accountants or otherwise pursuant to
investigations or inquiries;
viii.
inviting you for seminars, webinars and workshops conducted by us, which
we believe may be of interest to you; and
ix.
contacting you from time to time to record your valuable feedback on our
website, as they currently stand, and/or any potential services that may be
offered in the future.
b. In addition, we may
share your information to third parties on a need-to-know basis only, in
connection with or pursuant to provision by us of our services or your
employment with us. Details regarding disclosures to third parties is dealt
with in paragraph 5 below.
4. Disclosure of
Information
We may disclose your information to third parties in the following
cases, in accordance with the applicable data protection laws:
a. disclosure to third
party service providers such as auditors, accountants, information technology
service providers, our website developers and designers, insurers, bankers,
researchers, business consultants and other professional advisors or service
providers for providing inter-alia, data processing;
b. where there is a
legal obligation to disclose such information to third parties, either under
applicable law or order or judgment of a court of competent jurisdiction or
pursuant to any other legal process;
c. to protect the
rights, interests and security of our firm, our property, our clients and those
who work with us.
Third Party Links:
Our website also contains links to third parties’ websites in respect of
which we do not have any rights. You hereby agree that we are not responsible
for the collection, use, processing and disclosure of any information by virtue
of your accessing such links and websites.
Social Media Handles:
In case you provide us any personal information through inbox messages
or posts (as applicable) on our social media pages (eg. on LinkedIn), to the
extent that such messages and posts containing the personal information, are
sent to our social media accounts, the personal information will be subject to
this privacy policy and the applicable data protection laws. However, you
hereby agree that given that our social media handles are on third party
websites, we are not responsible for collection, use, processing and disclosure
of any of your information by third parties (including the social media
websites themselves, members of the public, etc.) by virtue of your accessing
or providing information on such social media websites (whether or not to our
social media page) or otherwise engaging in any other activities on such
websites.
5. Data Protection
We value the privacy of the personal information collected from you and
endeavour to safeguard the same from unauthorised use, disclosure, alteration
and destruction. In order to do so, we maintain appropriate managerial,
technical, operational and physical security control measures in relation to
our computer systems. We also ensure that if any disclosures are made or any
access is provided to your personal information, it is on a need-to-know basis
only to persons who maintain at least the same level of safeguards for data
protection and who are subject to confidentiality obligations.
In our endeavour to protect your personal information, where we find
that your personal information is no longer required for any of the purposes
for which we collected it or otherwise it is not required to be retained
pursuant to any applicable data protection law, we will not store it.
However, you agree that we may store your personal information in electronic
back up form, in which case such backups would be subject to appropriate
safeguards (including technical and organisational).
6. Disclaimer
Notwithstanding the above, you agree that we shall not be responsible
for:
a. any unauthorised
use, collection, processing or access to your personal information or breaches
of security beyond our firm’s reasonable control; and
b. any liability
arising in connection with disclosure by you of your personal information to
third parties, whether by you accessing third party webpages or websites
through our website, or in any other manner.
7. Your Rights of
Access to Your Information with Us
You may exercise rights in relation to your personal information by
requesting for:
a. the personal
information collected from you or in relation to you;
b. any modification or
updation of any of your personal information;
c. withdrawal of your
consent;
d. restriction on use
or processing of your personal information in any manner or to any extent;
e. erasure of your
personal information;
f. transmission of your
personal data by us to another controller as specified by you, subject to the
applicable data protection laws;
By writing to us at the contact details mentioned below.
In addition to the above, you are also entitled to the right to lodge a
complaint with a supervisory authority.
We do not have any automated decision making or profiling in relation to
your personal information.
8. Contact Information
In case you have any questions pursuant to this privacy policy or if you
have any complaints or, if you have any requests, please write to us at:
kunal.thakur@desteksolutions.com
Office No. B-202, Town Square Complex, Mhada Colony, New Airport Road, Viman Nagar, Pune, Maharashtra 411014