Transparency and Accountability in Governance: A Study of Balance between Right to Information and Right to Privacy

DOI

10.2991/978-2-38476-426-6_13How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Transparency; Accountability; Right to Information; Privacy; Data Protection

Abstract

Transparency and Accountability are the basic elements for the administration and operation of good governance in a democratic country. Right to Information Act, 2005 became an essential tool which ensure transparency and openness. Right to Access Information, not only promotes transparency but also provide citizen’s participation in government processes. The elements of good governance are participation, accountability, transparency and predictability.

Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 recognizes right to protect personal data of individuals as well as processing of personal information if necessary for the lawful purposes. There strict no boundation to weigh which right is supreme over other. Right to protect data and right to information both stands on equal footing but they overlap extensively. The existing legislations are failed to enforce both the statues without causing prejudice to other. Harmonious construction of both the statues is necessary for the smooth functioning of country.

RTI Act in India is not enforceable on Government as the political parties are private entities. Private entities are not bound to disclose their information. as matter of right to privacy. This paper comprehensively analyses the conflict between right to information and right to privacy by identifying the gaps and best practices in existing laws to strengthen laws regarding transparency in the public interest and protection of privacy.

Copyright

© 2025 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Mamta Patel
AU  - Sapna Bansal
PY  - 2025
DA  - 2025/06/06
TI  - Transparency and Accountability in Governance: A Study of Balance between Right to Information and Right to Privacy
BT  - Proceedings of the National Seminar on Enhancing Privacy Protection in the Digital Age: Legal Challenges & Innovations (NSEPPDA 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 210
EP  - 224
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-426-6_13
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-426-6_13
ID  - Patel2025
ER  -