Supreme Court to examine privacy shield in amended RTI law

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday observed that it would have to examine whether parliament's approach of expanding protection for personal information under the amended law satisfies constitutional standards.

A three-member bench, comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant, Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana, observed that a balance ought to be struck between citizens' right to information and the fundamental right to privacy while examining changes made to the Right to Information (RTI) Act through the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act.

The development took place during the hearing of petitions challenging the amendment to Section 8(1)(j) of the RTI Act by which the public interest clause for disclosure of personal information was removed. "The question is whether there can be a blanket prohibition on disclosing all digital personal information, or whether the legislation must adopt a proportionate approach," Justice Bagchi orally observed.


CJI Kant remarked that the court had already indicated at an earlier hearing that some balancing would have to be done regarding the kind of digital personal data that requires protection. Justice Bagchi added that the court is examining not only the data protection law but also its impact on the RTI Act.