DPDP Act will not restrict disclosure of personal information in RTI: Ashwini Vaishnaw

IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw

Responding to criticism that the Digital Personal Data Protection Act dilutes the Right to Information (RTI) Act, IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said that the law will not restrict disclosure of personal information in RTI responses.

“Therefore, any personal information that is subject to disclosure under legal obligations under various laws governing our public representatives and welfare programmes like MGNREGA, etc will continue to be disclosed under the RTI Act. In fact, this amendment will not restrict disclosure of personal information, rather it aims to strengthen the privacy rights of the individuals and prevent the potential misuse of the law,” Vaishnaw said in a letter to former minister Jairam Ramesh.

Earlier Ramesh had written to Vaishnaw about the DPDP Act and its apparent impact on provisions of RTI .

“The Provision in Section 8(1)(i) of the RTI Act, 2005 that gives citizens equal right to information as legislators who represent them is totally eliminated. The existing Section 8(1)() of the RTI Act, 2005 had enough guardrails to protect unwarranted invasion of privacy.

In the interests of transparency and accountability, I would urge you to pause, review and repeal Section 44 (3) of the Data Protection Act, 2023 which destroys the RTI ACT,” Ramesh said in his letter to Vaishnaw.