Opposition claims Section 44(3) of DPDP Act destroys RTI, seeks its repeal

New Delhi: Opposition I.N.D.I.A. bloc on Thursday demanded repeal of Section 44 (3) of the Digital Personal Data Protection Act (DPDP), contending that it destroys the Right to Information (RTI) Act.

At a joint press conference here, Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi said over 120 MPs of the I.N.D.I.A. bloc parties, including Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi, have signed a joint memorandum for repeal of this section and it will be submitted to Information and Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw.

The press conference was attended by MM Abdulla (DMK), Priyanka Chaturvedi (Shiv Sena-UBT), John Brittas, (CPI-M), Javed Ali Khan, (SP) and Naval Kishor (RJD).

Civil rights activists have opposed the Section 44 (3) of the DPDP Act which seeks to substitute Section 8 (1)(j) of the RTI Act, 2005, Gogoi said.

Section 8(1)(j) of the RTI Act allowed withholding of personal information if its disclosure was unrelated to any public activity or interest or would result in an unwarranted invasion of privacy.

However, this restriction was subject to an important safeguard: if the Central Public Information Officer, the State Public Information Officer, or the appellate authority determined that disclosing the information served a larger public interest, it could still be made available.

Section 44 (3) of the DPDP Act amends Section 8(1)(j) of the RTI Act that allows government bodies to withhold "information which relates to personal information," with no consideration for the public interest or any other exception.