Opposition slams data law, calls it a ‘threat’ to transparency

The political slugfest over the data law which is being termed as “threat” by the Opposition parties to the Right to Information (RTI) Act in the country continued to simmer as on Sunday it called the government’s move “RTI destroying amendment”.

The Opposition has cornered the government over the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act, 2023, as it says that the amendment made to the RTI Act, 2005, through Section 44 (3) of the DPDP Act will leave the people’s right to know in the country decimated. The government so far has defended the law with Information and Technology (IT) Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw saying that it was fully in sync with privacy principles.

In his response to Opposition MP and Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on March 10, Vaishnaw had said the law aligned with privacy principles upheld by the Supreme Court in the Puttaswamy judgment and continues to support transparency through other sections of the RTI Act.

However, Ramesh today issued a detailed counter-response to the minister.

“Section 3 of the DPDP Act, 2023, cited in your letter as protecting disclosures under the RTI Act, 2005, is wholly irrelevant since Section 8(1) of the RTI Act, 2005, itself has been amended drastically. Section 3 of the DPDP Act will now only protect disclosures as per the amended RTI Act, which exempts all personal information from being accessible. Second, the operation of the RTI Act, 2005 — informed by several judgments by the Supreme Court and various High Courts – has demonstrated that the law is able to withhold the disclosure of personal information which has no relationship to any public activity or public interest,” the Congress leader said.

Ramesh added that the deletion of the proviso in Section 8(1) of the RTI Act, 2005 which recognises the citizens’ right to information as being at par with that of legislators is “completely unwarranted|”. “In fact, that proviso is applicable not just to the personal information exemption, but all exemptions in Section 8(1) of the RTI Act, 2005,” he said.

On the minister’s mention of Puttaswamy judgment, the senior Congress leader said, “Please do remember that nowhere in this judgment is it mentioned that the RTI Act, 2005, itself needs to be amended. The judgment reinforces that safeguarding personal privacy and promoting institutional transparency are not mutually exclusive but are jointly essential.”

The Congress leader has urged the government to “pause, review and repeal” the amendment made to the RTI Act, 2005.

Earlier, several members of INDIA-bloc also raised the matter, while urging the government to do away the provisions in DPDP Act which “belittle” RTI Act 2005.

India