1 week Ago By Azdhan
Around 120 members of the INDIA Alliance wrote a letter to Union Minister for Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) Ashwini Vaishnaw, asking the government to repeal the provisions that go against the RTI Act in the name of privacy protection. “Very surreptitiously, maliciously, and mischievously, the right of the public to information has been snatched by the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act,” said the Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi in a joint press conference held in New Delhi. “We request the ministry to remove Section 44(3) of the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act,” said Gogoi.
This section goes against Section 8(1) (j) of the RTI Act, he added. Along with Gaurav Gogoi, the Deputy Leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha; John Brittas, CPI(M) Rajya Sabha member; Priyanka Chaturvedi, Shiv Sena (UBT) MP; Javed Ali Khan, Samajwadi Party Rajya Sabha member; M.M.
Abdulla of the DMK; and Nawal Kishore, RJD spokesperson, addressed the press conference.What is Section (8) (j) of the RTI Act?The Right to Information Act was passed in 2005 by the UPA government with the intention of increasing the accountability of public officials. Section (8) (j) of this RTI Act (2005) states that ‘personal information’ of a person who has any relation with any public activity or interest can be disclosed by the Central Public Information Officer, the State Public Information Officer or the Appellate Authority.
The information can only be revealed if the above-mentioned information officers are satisfied that disclosure of information is in the ‘larger public interest’.What does Section 44(3) of the DPDP Act say?The Section 44 of DPDP Act 2023 talks about the amendments to certain acts. The RTI Act is one among the acts which were set to be amended.
Section 44(3) of the DPDP Act calls for the substitution of Section (8) (j) of the RTI Act, which means that the Information Officers can deny any information to “protect their personal data”.Why This Matters:“If the public wants to know to whom the tenders for government-funded projects are going, then the new provisions don’t allow the disclosure of such information. How can the public be sure that all the government projects are not being allocated to only one person?” Gaurav Gogoi illustrated, citing the need for the RTI Act to keep crony capitalism in check.
He also cited that “we can’t know the list of billionaire defaulters who have fled the country without repaying the loans, as per the provisions under Section 44(3) of the DPDP Act.”“For instance, if students request information about SC/ST scholarship lists via RTI, they can now be denied the same under the aegis that it classifies as personal information, as it includes the students’ names. While such lists could be examined to ascertain whether the rightful beneficiaries have accrued benefits, the same wouldn’t be possible under the new amendment,” said RTI Activist Anjali Bhardwaj, in an earlier interview with MediaNama.
In 2023, former Central Information Commissioner Shailesh Gandhi, wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi calling this provision of the DPDP Act as “Right to Denial of Information”. Also Read: A Complete Guide to India’s Digital Personal Data Protection Bill, 2022How an amendment in the DPDP Bill, 2022, impacts the RTI Act?Why Cong Prez Criticising Centre For Diluting RTI Act Is ImportantThe post INDIA Alliance Urges Repeal of DPDP Act’s Section 44(3) Over RTI Concerns appeared first on MEDIANAMA..
