What happened: Supreme Court examination of DPDP–RTI overlap
The Supreme Court of India agreed to examine whether the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act, 2023 can be applied in a manner that effectively undermines the Right to Information (RTI) Act. A Supreme Court bench including Justice J. Bagchi questioned how the DPDP framework interacts with the RTI framework, since both are key statutes.
The Supreme Court also examined whether the DPDP Act’s approach to sharing personal data could operate like a repeal or override of earlier transparency provisions within the RTI regime.
The Supreme Court observed that the RTI regime covers a wider domain than the DPDP law because the DPDP law focuses on data in digital form, while much information in governance is now predominantly stored in digital formats.
In the same hearings, the Supreme Court considered concerns that limits on disclosure under the data protection framework may affect investigative journalism. Petitioners’ counsel argued that journalists may not get automatic access and may require processes tied to data principal consent and compliance, including potential deletion/erasure pathways connected to data protection rules.
The Supreme Court’s reported hearing framing also stated that journalists are not treated as a “special category” entitled to unreserved data access.
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