Justice K S Puttaswamy v. Union of India (2017)

The 9-judge Constitution Bench ruling that established the Right to Privacy as a fundamental right under Article 21 of the Constitution of India. Justice Puttaswamy is the foundation of the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, and reshapes the §8(1)(j) personal-information exemption under the RTI Act, 2005.

Justice K S Puttaswamy v. Union of India

A 9-judge Bench was constituted to settle whether the Right to Privacy is a fundamental right — overruling earlier 8-judge and 6-judge decisions (*M P Sharma* 1954, *Kharak Singh* 1962) that had held there was no such right.

The Court unanimously held (with 6 separate concurring opinions):

1. Privacy is a fundamental right, intrinsic to the right to life and personal liberty under Article 21.
2. It is also intrinsic to the freedoms guaranteed by Part III of the Constitution — including Article 14 (equality), Article 19(1)(a) (free speech).
3. Restrictions on privacy must satisfy a four-fold test of (i) legality (existence of law), (ii) need (legitimate state aim), (iii) proportionality (narrowly tailored), and (iv) procedural safeguards.
4. The Court overruled *M P Sharma* (1954) and the privacy holding in *Kharak Singh* (1962).

1. Every §8(1)(j) personal-information exemption must now be tested against the four-fold privacy test, not just the literal text.
2. The public-interest override under §8(2) post-DPDP must be proportionate — a sweeping refusal is unconstitutional.
3. Conversely, an applicant seeking another person's records must show legitimate state aim + proportionality in the public-interest argument.
4. The DPDP Act, 2023, in force from 14 November 2025, is a direct statutory implementation of Puttaswamy's mandate.

Justice K S Puttaswamy (Retd) and Another v. Union of India and Others, (2017) 10 SCC 1, Writ Petition (Civil) No 494 of 2012, decided 24 August 2017 by a 9-judge Constitution Bench (CJI J S Khehar, J Chelameswar, S A Bobde, R K Agrawal, R F Nariman, A M Sapre, D Y Chandrachud, S K Kaul, S Abdul Nazeer JJ).

• As a third-party receiving a §11 notice, cite Puttaswamy + the four-fold test to argue why disclosure of your personal information is disproportionate.
• As an applicant, cite Puttaswamy's reading of Article 19(1)(a) (free speech includes the right to access information) to defeat over-broad §8(1)(j) refusals.

• Supreme Court of India, Puttaswamy v. Union of India, (2017) 10 SCC 1.
• Constitution of India, Article 21 + 19(1)(a).
• Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 (in force 14 Nov 2025).
• Right to Information Act, 2005, §8(1)(j) + §8(2). Full text.

• CPIO SC v. Subhash Agarwal — §8(1)(j) post-Puttaswamy
• Girish Deshpande — §8(1)(j) test
• Maneka Gandhi v. UoI
• Complete DPDP Act guide

Last reviewed: 4 May 2026.