3 months ago
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The Supreme Court is scheduled to perceive connected February 16 a petition which accuses India’s caller integer idiosyncratic information extortion instrumentality of weaponising the close to privateness to disarm the citizens’ close to question accusation from the authorities nether the Right to Information (RTI) Act.
A three-judge Bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant would perceive a petition filed by quality rights and transparency activistic Venkatesh Nayak, represented by advocator Vrinda Grover, who has challenged Section 44(3) of the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act of 2023.
The petition submitted that Section 44(3) has amended Section 8(1)(j)of the RTI Act to facilitate nationalist authorities to blankly garbage accusation connected the crushed that the details sought are of a “personal” nature. It said the proviso has turned the cardinal close to privateness connected its head. The right, meant to support mean citizens against authorities incursion, has been extended to support the authorities and nationalist functionaries from RTI disclosures.
Originally, the RTI proviso had exempted authorities from disclosing idiosyncratic accusation to an applicant if the details sought had nary narration to immoderate nationalist enactment oregon if disclosure would magnitude to unwarranted penetration of privacy. Even then, the authorities had to disclose if nationalist involvement outweighed privacy. The determination whether oregon not to uncover ‘personal information’ was taken by a Public Information Officer oregon the First Appellate Authority nether the RTI Act aft thoroughly weighing privateness and transparency concerns.
“The Constitutional effect is contiguous and serious. Every RTI exertion involving identifiable nationalist officials, procurement records, audit reports, assignment files, utilisation of nationalist funds, oregon workout of statutory discretion tin present beryllium denied automatically connected the crushed that it ‘relates to idiosyncratic information’. The balancing mechanics that ensured proportionality has been dismantled. The exemption operates arsenic an irrebuttable barroom astatine the archetypal gate. This is not a insignificant statutory adjustment; it is simply a structural alteration of the decision-making architecture of the RTI Act,” the National Campaign for People's Right to Information (NCPRI), represented by advocator Prashant Bhushan, argued successful a abstracted petition filed successful the apex court.
The petition represented by Ms. Grover said the amendment introduced by the DPDP Act accorded “unguided discretion to the Executive to contradict idiosyncratic information, which is unconstitutional”.
“It is an unreasonable regularisation connected the close nether Article 19 (right to escaped speech). Privacy is not a cardinal close disposable to the state. It violates Article 14 (right to adjacent treatment) by equating the privateness of nationalist functionaries to that of mean citizens. It inverts the jurisprudence of privateness vis-à-vis the close to accusation and prioritises privateness implicit the larger nationalist involvement of transparency and unfastened governance,” Mr. Nayak’s petition argued.
It contended that the amendment to Section 8(1)(j) of the RTIAct, erstwhile work successful conjunction with the explanation of the word ‘personal data’ successful the DPDP Act, has brought wrong its fold “all accusation which adjacent remotely relates to the individuality of an individual, and renders the close to accusation illusory” and sounded the decease knell for participatory ideology too being ruinous to ideas of unfastened governance.
The pleas besides challenged provisions of the DPDP Rules, 2025, which supply the Executive dominance successful the enactment of search-cum-selection committees for the assignment of the chairperson and members of the Data Protection Board successful usurpation of the doctrine of separation of powers. Similarly, the instrumentality allows the Centre to telephone for immoderate accusation without immoderate statutory guidance oregon regulation from the Data Board of Data Fiduciaries, making it manifestly arbitrary. Besides, it has provided penalties without immoderate statutory guidance connected what constituted a “significant” information breach.
