The Supreme Court on Monday issued notice to the Union government on a petition challenging the constitutional validity of certain provisions of the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act, 2023, which are alleged to undermine the Right to Information (RTI) regime. The Court, however, declined to grant any interim stay on the operation of the impugned provisions.
A Bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M. Pancholi agreed to examine the legal issues raised but held that no case for interim relief was made out at this stage.
The plea has been filed by The Reporters’ Collective along with journalist Nitin Sethi. The petition contends that the new data protection framework grants “sweeping powers” to the Central government over personal data and substantially weakens the transparency architecture under the RTI Act.
According to the petitioners, the DPDP Act introduces a blanket prohibition on disclosure of personal information, which would effectively dismantle the balance between privacy and transparency that has been developed through judicial interpretation of the RTI Act.
Appearing for the petitioners, Advocate Vrinda Grover argued that the legislation lacks “surgical precision” in protecting privacy and instead adopts an overbroad approach that harms the public’s right to access information.
She submitted that “instead of using a chisel, the legislature has used a hammer,” resulting in a “body blow” to the RTI framework.
The petition asserts that the impugned provisions disproportionately restrict access to information by removing the public interest test that previously allowed disclosure of personal data where larger transparency concerns were involved.
While issuing notice to the Centre and seeking its response, the Bench declined to stay the operation of the challenged provisions, indicating that the constitutional questions raised would be examined in due course.
The matter will now proceed after the Union government files its reply.
