CLEVER MOVE?

The proposed amendment in the Bill can deny the right to access public information if the government thinks that it impinges on the private realm of a person and is not of larger public interest

- Sanjay Raman Sinha 

THE proposed Data Protection Bill has cast its ominous shadow on the right to information. The Bill has a rider which not only appropriates years of hard work of RTI activists, but also nullifies key judicial pronouncements.

It is also a curious case of using the historic Puttaswamy judicial verdict, which buttressed the case for individual privacy, for curbing right to information. As per the proposed amendment in the Data Protection Bill, the right to access public information can be denied if the government thinks that it impinges on the private realm of a person and the information demanded is not of larger public interest.

The area of concern is Section 8(1)( j) of the Right to Information Act 2005. The Section mandates that “...information which relates to personal information the disclosure of which has no relationship to any public activity or interest, or which would cause unwarranted invasion of the privacy of the individual unless the Central Public Information Officer or the State Public Information Officer or the appellate authority, as the case may be, is satisfied that the larger public interest justifies the disclosure of such information”.

This rider is often used to refuse replies. According to an estimate, this clause accounts for 35% of refusals of information by authorities.