The Supreme Court on Monday issued notice on a PIL challenging certain provisions of the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act, while allowing an application to implead the State of Rajasthan in the proceedings.
During the hearing, Senior Advocate Shyam Divan, appearing for the petitioner, sought limited interim relief against the masking and potential deletion of individual-level data on government portals. He submitted that ongoing masking of datasets could impair field-level work and verification, and urged the Court to direct that existing data available on public portals should not be deleted pending adjudication.
It was contended that access to identifiable beneficiary data has enabled ground-level verification of welfare delivery, including restoration of discontinued pensions, detection of diversion in public distribution systems, and facilitation of compensation claims for silicosis victims. The petitioner argued that such exercises would be adversely affected if data is masked or removed.
The Court allowed the impleadment of the State of Rajasthan, noting that substantial fieldwork forming the basis of the plea had been undertaken in the State.
The matter is now likely to be considered further in the upcoming hearing on 13th May.