Trinamool MP Mahua Moitra on Friday demanded the Narendra Modi government to roll back Section 44 (iii) of the proposed Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023.

In the Lok Sabha, Moitra during a calling attention motion said the Section 44 (iii) of the DPD Act would make the Section 81-J of the Right to Information Act completely redundant.

“The Section 44 (iii) of this Act overrides completely Section 8(1) (j) of the RTI Act, which had a provision whereby, you could only deny data if it was personal data or anything which couldn’t be given to Parliament/individual,” Moitra said.

The Section 44 (iii) of the DPDP amended the existing provisions in the RTI Act with the clause “information which relates to personal information” inserted.

“But with this DPDP Act, these exemptions of the RTI Act have been overdone and the government can deny all personal data blanketly to anyone seeking accountability. As a result of this, you won’t get data on wilful known defaulters or anything which the government doesn’t want you to get. This is completely undermining the RTI Act,” the two-time Krishnagar MP said.

She also raised objections to another section in the Act which states, any group – journalists, activists, or political parties – which has data can now be classified as data fiduciary.

“They will be subjected to all the obligations of a data fiduciary,” Mahua said. “The Data Protection Board, which is completely made by the government, has the power to impose a fine of Rs. 250 crore and that can go up to Rs. 500crore. This will have a chilling effect on anyone seeking data,” she said.

Under the RTI Act, promulgated during the first term of the UPA government under late Prime Minister Manmohan Singh clearly stated in section 8(j), information which relates to personal information the disclosure of which has no relationship to any public activity or interest, or which would cause unwarranted invasion of the privacy of the individual unless the central public information officer of the appellate authority, as the case may be, is satisfied that the larger public interest justifies the disclosure of such information. The Section also states any information which cannot be denied to the Parliament or a state legislature shall not be denied to any person.

Three days ago, several lawyers and activists had met leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and the Wayanad MP Priyanka Gandhi and voiced their reservation on the changes made to the RTI Act via the new act which was signed on August 11, 2023 and the rules are in the process of being framed.

“This legislation, under the pretext of safeguarding privacy, curtails access to public information which is essential for citizens and journalists to hold the government accountable,” Rahul wrote on his X (formerly known as Twitter) handle.

“The NDA government is attempting to shield itself from scrutiny, undermining transparency and weakening democratic oversight.”