{"id":30639,"date":"2026-08-19T12:01:33","date_gmt":"2026-08-19T12:01:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.legalserviceindia.com\/Legal-Articles\/?p=30639"},"modified":"2026-08-19T12:10:17","modified_gmt":"2026-08-19T12:10:17","slug":"right-to-know-vs-right-to-privacy-india-rti-dpdp-act","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.legalserviceindia.com\/Legal-Articles\/right-to-know-vs-right-to-privacy-india-rti-dpdp-act\/","title":{"rendered":"Right to Know vs Right to Privacy: India\u2019s RTI-DPDP Act Conflict Explained"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h1 id=\"h-the-right-to-know-vs-the-right-to-privacy-india-s-data-law-dilemma\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"The_Right_to_Know_vs_The_Right_to_Privacy_Indias_Data_Law_Dilemma\"><\/span>The Right to Know vs. The Right to Privacy: India\u2019s Data Law Dilemma<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h1>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"h-introduction\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Introduction\"><\/span>Introduction<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">India has two landmark citizen-rights laws less than 20 years apart\u2014one demanding openness, one demanding restraint. The Right to Information Act, 2005, came as a hope for democratic India, granting citizens the power to hold those in power accountable. While in 2023, the Digital Personal Data Protection Act was enacted to secure the personal data of individuals in the digital economy. The two fundamental rights-based laws, both meant to protect the citizen, now pull in opposite directions. This raises a question the Supreme Court itself is now being asked to answer.<\/p><div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_86 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-grey ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #0c0c0c;color:#0c0c0c\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #0c0c0c;color:#0c0c0c\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-1'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.legalserviceindia.com\/Legal-Articles\/right-to-know-vs-right-to-privacy-india-rti-dpdp-act\/#The_Right_to_Know_vs_The_Right_to_Privacy_Indias_Data_Law_Dilemma\" >The Right to Know vs. The Right to Privacy: India\u2019s Data Law Dilemma<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-2' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/www.legalserviceindia.com\/Legal-Articles\/right-to-know-vs-right-to-privacy-india-rti-dpdp-act\/#Introduction\" >Introduction<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/www.legalserviceindia.com\/Legal-Articles\/right-to-know-vs-right-to-privacy-india-rti-dpdp-act\/#Understanding_the_Two_Laws\" >Understanding the Two Laws<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/www.legalserviceindia.com\/Legal-Articles\/right-to-know-vs-right-to-privacy-india-rti-dpdp-act\/#The_Right_to_Information_Act_2005\" >The Right to Information Act, 2005<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/www.legalserviceindia.com\/Legal-Articles\/right-to-know-vs-right-to-privacy-india-rti-dpdp-act\/#The_Digital_Personal_Data_Protection_Act_2023\" >The Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-6\" href=\"https:\/\/www.legalserviceindia.com\/Legal-Articles\/right-to-know-vs-right-to-privacy-india-rti-dpdp-act\/#The_Flashpoint_Section_443_of_the_DPDP_Act\" >The Flashpoint: Section 44(3) of the DPDP Act<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-7\" href=\"https:\/\/www.legalserviceindia.com\/Legal-Articles\/right-to-know-vs-right-to-privacy-india-rti-dpdp-act\/#The_Exemption_Gap_How_Public_Authorities_Are_Treated_Differently\" >The Exemption Gap: How Public Authorities Are Treated Differently<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-8\" href=\"https:\/\/www.legalserviceindia.com\/Legal-Articles\/right-to-know-vs-right-to-privacy-india-rti-dpdp-act\/#Judicial_Intervention\" >Judicial Intervention<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-9\" href=\"https:\/\/www.legalserviceindia.com\/Legal-Articles\/right-to-know-vs-right-to-privacy-india-rti-dpdp-act\/#CPIO_v_Subhash_Chandra_Agarwal_2019\" >CPIO v. Subhash Chandra Agarwal (2019)<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-10\" href=\"https:\/\/www.legalserviceindia.com\/Legal-Articles\/right-to-know-vs-right-to-privacy-india-rti-dpdp-act\/#Conclusion\" >Conclusion<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"h-understanding-the-two-laws\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Understanding_the_Two_Laws\"><\/span>Understanding the Two Laws<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"h-the-right-to-information-act-2005\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"The_Right_to_Information_Act_2005\"><\/span>The Right to Information Act, 2005<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The landmark case of <em><strong>State of U.P. vs. Raj Narain (1975)<\/strong><\/em> first recognized the right to information as a part of the fundamental right to freedom of speech and expression [Article 19(1)(a) of the Indian Constitution]. The Supreme Court of India held that people are masters in a democracy and have the right to know how the government works, making disclosure of official information to the public a crucial rule.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Under the RTI Act, citizens can file RTI applications, and the Central\/State Public Information Officers, within the proviso, use such information for the benefit of the public at large. Section 7 of the RTI Act makes a proactive obligation on the public authorities to disclose such information upon request.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"h-the-digital-personal-data-protection-act-2023\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"The_Digital_Personal_Data_Protection_Act_2023\"><\/span>The Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The DPDP Act is an enactment made in India laying down the directives on how personal data should be collected, stored, processed, and administered. The core principle of the DPDP Act is safeguarding the personal information of an individual. The historic <em><strong>Justice K.S. Puttaswamy (Retd.) v. Union of India<\/strong><\/em> case, decided by a nine-judge bench, declared that the right to privacy is a fundamental right under Article 21 of the Indian Constitution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The DPDP act operated between the data principal (person whose date is collected) and the data fiduciary (company or app that collects the data), governing on how to use the data collected and granting statutory power to the principal to control their data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"h-the-flashpoint-section-44-3-of-the-dpdp-act\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"The_Flashpoint_Section_443_of_the_DPDP_Act\"><\/span>The Flashpoint: Section 44(3) of the DPDP Act<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Section 44(3) of the DPDP Act amends Section 8(1) of the RTI Act. Section 8(1) of the RTI Act stated that personal information of an individual could be disclosed in the question of public interest, but the adoption of the DPDP Act section 44(3) removes the condition of public interest and replaces it with a broad exemption, putting a blanket ban on the personal information in RTI applications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Right to Information Act never defined what constitutes \u201cpersonal information\u201d; consequently, the DPDP Act&#8217;s broad definition now fills that gap. The new rule makes it undisputed that any \u201cpersonal information\u201d cannot be disclosed, whatever the reason may be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"h-the-exemption-gap-how-public-authorities-are-treated-differently\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"The_Exemption_Gap_How_Public_Authorities_Are_Treated_Differently\"><\/span>The Exemption Gap: How Public Authorities Are Treated Differently<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The DPDP Act, 2023, grants broader immunity to the public authorities than to private data fiduciaries. The private data fiduciaries have to face strict consent mandates, retention caps, and high compliance penalties, while, on the contrary, the public bodies enjoy systematic derogations for public welfare and national security. This creates an accountability imbalance where the commercial data collection is over-surveilled while the large-scale data acquisition operates under near-absolute immunity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Here lies the deeper asymmetry: while ordinary citizens face a stricter bar to access the personal information under RTI, public authorities operate under relatively relaxed obligations. Section 17(2)(a) of the DPDP Act exempts notified state instrumentalities from the Act altogether when processing data serves the state interest, while Section 17(4) waives specific citizen-facing duties\u2014such as data erasure and grievance redressal\u2014for government processing more broadly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"h-judicial-intervention\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Judicial_Intervention\"><\/span>Judicial Intervention<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"h-cpio-v-subhash-chandra-agarwal-2019\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"CPIO_v_Subhash_Chandra_Agarwal_2019\"><\/span>CPIO v. Subhash Chandra Agarwal (2019)<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Back in 2019, RTI activist Subhash Chandra Agarwal wanted to know something the judiciary didn\u2019t much want to share: judges\u2019 asset declarations and the correspondence behind judicial appointments, both held by the Chief Justice\u2019s office. He files an RTI. The CJI\u2019s office pushed back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The case went all the way to a five-judge Constitutional Bench, which ruled that yes, the CJI\u2019s office counts as a \u201cpublic authority\u201d under the RTI Act\u2014so the information isn\u2019t automatically off-limits. But it isn\u2019t automatically fair game either. The Court\u2019s real contribution here was refusing to pick a winner between privacy and transparency. Neither right trumps the other by default; each request gets weighed on its own, against the public interest at stake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That\u2019s the balancing act Section 44(3) is accused of throwing out. And oddly enough, both camps in the DPDP-RTI fight now lean on the same 2019 ruling to make their case\u2014which is probably why the Supreme Court can\u2019t just wave the issue away this time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"h-conclusion\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Conclusion\"><\/span>Conclusion<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Both statutes trace back to the same constitutional commitment: the dignity and rights of the individual citizen. And yet, in practice, they now work at cross purposes. The RTI Act rests on the idea that citizens have a right to scrutinize how public power is exercised. The DPDP Act rests on the idea that individuals have a right to control their own data. Neither premise is flawed on its own terms. The problem is how Section 44(3) settles the conflict between them\u2014not by weighing the two interests against each other case by case, but by deciding the matter in advance, squarely in favor of privacy, with no room for exception.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That decision now sits with the courts. The Constitutional Bench will have to do something close to what the Court did in Agarwal nearly a decade ago\u2014work out where privacy ends and public accountability begins. It\u2019s not a question with an obvious answer, which is presumably why the Court didn\u2019t dispose of it at the first opportunity. Until there\u2019s a ruling, India\u2019s transparency framework runs on a provision that hasn\u2019t really been tested against hard facts. And it\u2019s the ordinary RTI applicant, not the legislature or the judiciary, who ends up finding out what that means in practice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-yoast-seo-related-links yoast-seo-related-links\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.legalserviceindia.com\/Legal-Articles\/right-to-information-in-india-a-citizens-gateway-to-transparency\/\">Right to Information in India: A Citizen\u2019s Gateway to Transparency<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.legalserviceindia.com\/Legal-Articles\/power-to-the-people-a-critical-analysis-of-the-right-to-information-act-2005\/\">Power To The People: A Critical Analysis Of The Right To Information Act 2005<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.legalserviceindia.com\/Legal-Articles\/the-constitutional-test-proportionality-and-the-puttaswamy-judgment\/\">The Constitutional Test: Proportionality and the Puttaswamy Judgment<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.legalserviceindia.com\/Legal-Articles\/the-rti-acts-latent-mandate-for-reasoned-transparency\/\">The RTI Act\u2019s Latent Mandate for Reasoned Transparency<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.legalserviceindia.com\/Legal-Articles\/rti-penalty-pio-quashed-chhattisgarh-high-court-fair-hearing\/\">RTI Penalty on PIO Quashed: Chhattisgarh High Court Protects Fair Hearing Rights Under RTI Act 2005<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Right to Know vs. The Right to Privacy: India\u2019s Data Law Dilemma Introduction India has two landmark citizen-rights laws less than 20 years apart\u2014one demanding openness, one demanding restraint. The Right to Information Act, 2005, came as a hope for democratic India, granting citizens the power to hold those in power accountable. While in<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1747,"featured_media":30700,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"two_page_speed":[],"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"_joinchat":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[97],"tags":[3343],"class_list":["post-30639","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-technology-laws","tag-technology-laws"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v28.2 (Yoast SEO v28.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Right to Know vs Right to Privacy: India\u2019s RTI-DPDP Act Conflict Explained - Legal Service India - Articles<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"India\u2019s RTI and DPDP Acts clash over privacy and transparency. 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