A Bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V Mohana was hearing petitions challenging the amendment to Section 8(1)(j) of the RTI Act by which the public interest clause for disclosure of personal information was removed.
The Court said the central constitutional issue before the Court was whether there can be a blanket prohibition on disclosure of personal information.
“The question is whether there can be a blanket prohibition on disclosure of all digital personal information, or whether the legislation has to adopt a proportionate approach,” said Justice Bagchi.
He further said the Court would have to examine whether parliament’s approach of expanding protection for personal information under the amended law satisfies constitutional standards.
“The Right to Information Act operates on a much larger domain. It covers all forms of information, not merely digital information. The Digital Personal Data Protection Act operates in a much narrower sliver, although today that narrow sliver constitutes the overwhelming part of information. The State appears to have adopted a more cautionary approach. The question is whether that cautionary approach, and the classification it creates, has a reasonable and intelligible differentia having regard to the object of the law,” said Justice Bagchi.
