NEW DELHI: Over 120 parliamentarians from various constituents of the INDIA bloc, including Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi, have written a letter to Union Minister of Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw seeking the repeal of the amendments made to the Right to Information (RTI) Act through the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act, 2023.
“We, the undersigned Members of Parliament, hereby urge you to repeal Section 44(3) of the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act, 2023, which amends the Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005,” states the letter.
“This amendment poses a serious risk of undermining people’s ability to access critical information under the RTI Act. Specifically, the amendment to Section 8(1)(j) of the RTI Act, as introduced by Section 44(3) of the DPDP Act seeks to exempt all personal information from disclosure,” it further reads.
These amendments were introduced indirectly through the new data protection law, which imposes a blanket ban on revealing personal information. This restriction even affects journalists, who cannot publish information in public interest even if they access personal data.
“We believe that the legal framework for privacy and data protection should complement the RTI Act and in no way undermine or dilute it,” the letter states, also highlighting contentious aspects of the Act as contradictory to principles of privacy and freedom of expression.
INDIA bloc opposes move
The letter, signed by SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, Supriya Sule of NCP (SP), Priyanka Chaturvedi of Shiv Sena (UBT), and leaders of JMM, RJD, and others, demanded immediate rollback of the amendments as the changes introduced by the DPDP Act significantly weaken the RTI Act and would negatively impact the citizen’s fundamental right to information.