Mumbai: Proposed changes against very essence of RTI Act, says Activists

The draft bill, if enforced, will make it easier for officers to deny information even about firms and State as they can be termed as personal. Representation pic

The proposed amendment to the Right to Information Act under the ambit of the Data Protection Bill is a matter of concern, say RTI activists. They claim that the amendment, if brought into force, may derail the very purpose of RTI Act which is to empower citizens to bring transparency and accountability in the system.

Shailesh Gandhi, RTI activist and former central information commissioner, said, "The proposed amendment would weaken citizens' fundamental right to Information. Most information relates to a person and can be classified as personal. Most of the information to curb corruption and expose illegal acts would be blocked on the grounds that it belongs to a person."

"With the wide definition suggested in the Data Protection Bill even companies and the State are included in the definition of ‘person'. Thus, information related to a company or the government can also be denied on the grounds that it is personal," explained Shailesh.

The draft bill

In a media release dated December 7, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITy) announced the draft Digital Personal Data Protection Bill 2022 and invited feedback from the public. The draft Bill sets out the rights and duties of the citizen (digital nagrik) and the obligations of the data fiduciary to use the collected data lawfully. As part of the compliance framework, it envisages the setting up of a Data Protection Board of India to determine non-compliance with the provisions of the draft Bill, impose penalty for such non-compliance, and perform other functions as the Central government may assign to it.

Currently, the Information Technology (Reasonable Security Practices and Procedures and Sensitive Personal Data or Information) Rules, 2011, made by the Central government in exercise of its powers under the Information Technology Act 2000, provide security practices and procedures that a body corporate or any person collecting, receiving, possessing, storing, dealing or handling information on behalf of the body corporate is required to observe for protecting personal data of users. These practices and procedures include the requirements that such body corporate or person publish on the website a policy for privacy and disclosure of personal information, data or information, to use information collected for the purpose for which it has been collected, to keep it secure and to obtain prior permission of the information provider for disclosing personal data.

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Legal denial of information

"What was an illegal denial in many cases is being converted into a legal denial. If this amendment is made, the law will become a right to deny for public information officers who do not wish to give information. We should object to this serious and damaging amendment and persuade the government to withdraw it," said Gandhi.

Venkatesh Nayak, director of Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, New Delhi, said, "The two proposed amendments to the RTI Act are unnecessary and undesirable. First, it will have the effect of converting all personal information into a class of information that will be exempt by default. This is completely against the vision of the RTI Act which recognises people's right to access personal information about other individuals that is of public interest. Justice A P Shah Committee on Data Protection and Privacy had recommended that information accessible under RTI must not be denied under a data protection law. The proposed amendment completely negates these important principles."

"Second, the proposal to delete the proviso under Section 8(1), which encodes the democratic principle that whatever information legislators have the right to demand access to in Parliament or Assemblies, people who elect them should also have the right to demand and obtain the same, is completely anti-democratic. The draft Bill violates Article 13 of the Constitution which prohibits the making of laws or taking of executive action which abridge, abrogate, diminish or curtail fundamental rights. What MEITy seems to have ignored is that both personal data privacy and people's right to know about public interest matters are deemed to be part of Article 21 which guarantees the right to life and liberty according to multiple Supreme Court judgements," said Venkatesh.

RTI a fundamental right

Vihar Durve, RTI activist from Pune, said, "It's unfortunate that there is once again an attempt to intervene with the basic structure of the Constitution. Right to Information is a fundamental right, which was introduced with an aim to bring accountability and transparency in larger public interest. Now under the ambit of the Data Protection Bill, the entire RTI Act and authorities under its ambit may have power to deny sharing any data or information."