More than 120 MPs of the INDIA bloc have asked the Centre to repeal a section of the Digital Personal Data Protection Act which they say nullifies the Right To Information Act.
At a media conference here on Thursday, legislators of the Congress, CPM, RJD, DMK, Shiv Sena (UBT) and the Samajwadi Party said the repeal of Section 44(3) of the DPDP Act would not hurt privacy and would rather safeguard the RTI.
Deputy leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha Gaurav Gogoi explained that Section 8(1)(j) of the RTI Act allowed withholding of personal information if its disclosure was unrelated to any public interest. However, if a competent authority determined that disclosing the information served a larger public interest, it could still be made available. However, Section 44(3) of the DPDP Act amended Section 8(1)(j) of the RTI Act to allow government bodies to withhold “information which relates to personal information”.
He added: “If tomorrow you want to know which contractor made the bridges that have collapsed in Bihar…. This deception (Section 44(3)) has snatched the citizens’ rights to know this.”
Shiv Sena (UBT) parliamentarian Priyanka Chaturvedi said: “Yesterday, the IT minister spoke to the Aadhaar team for a new RTI Act that is aligned with it (DPDP Act). You are taking the Right to Information to Road to Ignorance….. The DPDP bill of 2019 and the proposals (of a joint parliamentary committee) of 2021 did not have these provisions. They brought these provisions arbitrarily in 2023 which renders the RTI Act null and void.
“The data protection board will be centralised…. Its members, their salaries, the rules will all be decided by the Centre. How is this free and fair? The Centre can even exempt a private entity from sharing information.”
Although the law was passed in 2023, the draft rules were circulated only in January this year.
In a reply to Congress communications head Jairam Ramesh on the issue, Union electronics and IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Thursday: “The DPDP Act, as enacted by Parliament, harmonises this requirement while maintaining the
need for transparency in public life.
“This is ensured through Section 3 of the DPDP Act…. Therefore, any personal information that is subject to disclosure under legal obligations under various laws governing our public representatives and welfare programmes like MGNREGA, etc, will continue to be disclosed under the RTI Act.”
At the Press Club of India on Thursday, RJD spokesperson Nawal Kishore said: “We will try to get this Act completely revised. Social media has democratised the media and weaker sections use it to gather information and expose the government. This government is trying to impose a collective bar on these attempts through this law.”
Rajya Sabha member Javed Ali of the SP said: “Half the damage was done in 2019 when the RTI Act was amended. The remainder is being done now. This government loves to hide information.”
CPM parliamentarian John Brittas said many of the provisions brought in were contrary to the recommendations of the JPC in 2019. “Many of the laws passed during the UPA regime like the MGNREGA and the RTI are being watered down by the present government.”
DMK Rajya Sabha member M.M. Abdulla said that his party opposed the law and would, “fight for the freedom of expression and to save democracy”.