New Delhi, Aug. 8 -- The Supreme Court on Friday said that the Right to Information Act must be harmonised with the protection of private digital data under the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act 2023. The court observed further that the Centre must spell out the criteria to determine violations under the digital privacy law. Hearing a batch of petitions challenging the 2023 amendment to the RTI Act that removed the public interest clause for disclosure of personal information, a bench led by CJI Surya Kant said, "We need to harmonise the RTI law and the DPDP Act as both are central statutes. The question therefore is whether there can be a blanket prohibition on disclosure of all digital personal information or we should adopt a proportionate approach." SG Tushar Mehta said that the Centre would file an affidavit responding to the petitions within two weeks. "It is not a case that is as bad as portrayed by the petitioners. There is a balance the legislation has sought to bring about..." The court said that an enquiry into the validity of the 2023 amendment will essentially require the court to examine the extent to which protection offered for personal information satisfies the Constitutional test. Advocates Vrinda Grover and Prashant Bhushan, appearing for some petitioners, said that the amendment materially altered the purpose for which the RTI Act was enacted. Grover said that the earlier regime provided safeguards for privacy. However this stands replaced by a blanket ban, which violates the fundamental right to information under Article 19. Bhushan pointed out that the amendment will sound a death knell on investigative journalism as they will be barred from reporting on corruption without the offender's permission. htc...