Right to Information Act, 2005
Note
India's principal transparency statute, the Right to Information Act, 2005, establishes Public Information Officers (PIOs), First Appellate Authorities, the Central Information Commission (CIC), and State Information Commissions. Deemed refusal timelines apply when responses are not provided. Exemptions are set out under Sections 8 and 24. Proactive disclosure is mandated under Section 4. A 2019 amendment altered service conditions of Information Commissioners. The Act operationalises transparency and accountability as governance values, while navigating tensions with national security and privacy exemptions.
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Questions on this topic
Consider the following pairs, each matching a statutory provision with its principal effect under Indian law:
- Section 8(1)(j) of the Right to Information Act, 2005 (original provision) — Exempts personal information from mandatory disclosure, but includes a 'public interest override' allowing a Public Information Officer to permit disclosure if the larger public interest justifies it
- Section 44(3) of the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 — Amends Section 8(1)(j) of the RTI Act by removing the public interest override and imposing a blanket prohibition on disclosing any information relating to personal information
- Section 7 of the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 — Prohibits the state from processing a citizen's personal data unless prior consent has been obtained from the data principal
Which of the pairs given above is/are correctly matched?
Explanation
Pair 1 is correctly matched. Section 8(1)(j) of the RTI Act, 2005, in its original form, exempted personal information from disclosure only where it bore no relationship to any public activity or interest, or where disclosure would cause an unwarranted invasion of privacy — but it crucially preserved a 'public interest override', allowing a Public Information Officer to authorise disclosure when the larger public interest outweighed the privacy concern. Pair 2 is correctly matched. Section 44(3) of the DPDP Act, 2023, amended Section 8(1)(j) of the RTI Act, eliminating that public interest override and replacing the conditional exemption with a blanket prohibition on disclosing 'any information which relates to personal information'. This makes it possible to reject RTI requests concerning officials, audit reports, procurement records, or public spending by classifying them as personal information. Pair 3 is incorrectly matched. Section 7 of the DPDP Act, 2023, does the opposite of what is stated: it provides 'legitimate uses' under which the state may process personal data without the data principal's prior consent. Critics have pointed out the resulting asymmetry — the state is empowered to process citizens' data without consent, while citizens are simultaneously denied the ability to seek transparency about the state through the RTI framework.
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