The Narendra Modi government's move to keep a revised data protection bill secret while seeking its endorsement by a parliamentary panel has left activists and lawmakers afraid that it might be used to deny information under the Right To Information (RTI) Act.

The Personal Data Protection Bill of 2019 has been revised but the government has not disclosed the changes. This week, the department-related standing committee on communication and information technology held a meeting to examine it but a copy of the bill was not shared with the members, a source said. CPM MP and panel member John Brittas submitted a dissent note and the Opposition parties boycotted the meeting, the source added.

The bill of 2019 had a provision that sought to amend the RTI Act and widen the scope of personal information that can be denied to the public. RTI activists are worried that provision has been retained in the revised bill.

Shailesh Gandhi, former central information commissioner, said the IT ministry invited him for an online consultation on the DPDP Bill about six months ago. When he raised the concern about the RTI Act being curbed, he was muted immediately, Shailesh told The Telegraph.

“The data protection bill of 2019 amends the RTI Act, which would give exemption to disclosure of any information to any RTI applicant on the ground of personal data. In a way, it is denial of right to information,” Shailesh said.

The RTI Act has a provision for exemption for disclosure of information. Section 8 (1)(j) states a public information office has power to deny “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”. However, information that cannot be denied to the Parliament or a State Legislature shall not be denied to any person, the RTI Act says.

The data protection bill of 2019 said the bill would override all provisions of other laws, including the RTI Act. It said information related to persons would not be disclosed.

Shailesh said the bill did not distinguish between information of purely private nature and information having relation to public activity or interest.

“The draft allows the officer to consider any information to be personal information because any information is related to some person,” he said.

The draft bill defined "personal data" as data about or relating to a natural person who is directly or indirectly identifiable. Violation of any provision of the data protection bill would bring heavy penalty. Hence no information officer would be likely to take the risk of sharing information, he said.

Social activist Nikhil Dey said that the provision overriding RTI Act is learnt to have been retained in the new bill. If it is passed, information related to works and beneficiaries under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), National Food Security Act (NFSA) or Right To Education (RTE) Act or any other welfare scheme will be denied.

“The government will be free to deny information on specific labour or material supplier of a work under MGNREGA or who were the people who worked, or how many really got food under NFSA or who and therefore how many children really got admission under economically weaker section quota under RTE Act,” Dey said.

He said the activists have approached all the political parties not aligned to the government to oppose it when it is introduced in Parliament.

Another source said: “The government is not bringing amendment to RTI Act directly. But it will be amended through a sly provision in the data bill. The visit of the minister can be construed personal activity too and information can be denied. We have raised this concern.”