Supreme Court Issues Notice On Digital News Publishers’ Plea challenging the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 and the DPDP Rules, 2025, with the Chief Justice of India declining to pass any ex parte order.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday (October 27) issued notice on a petition by the Digital News Publishers Association challenging provisions of the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 and the Digital Personal Data Protection Rules, 2025, on the ground that they violate press freedom [Digital News Publishers Association v. Union of India].
The matter was heard by a bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant. Senior Advocate Madhavi Divan appeared for the association.
What was argued
Ms Divan urged the Court to stay the impugned provisions. She submitted that newsrooms would have to shut down if they had to seek the permission of the subjects of their reports before reporting on them, and added that digital news publishers are already regulated.
The Chief Justice told counsel that the Court would never pass an ex parte order without hearing the other side. He asked the publishers to tell the Court how they would regulate themselves. The Court has not granted any interim relief at this stage, and the Union’s response to the petition is awaited.
Background
The Digital Personal Data Protection Act was enacted in August 2023 and the Rules followed in 2025. Earlier this year, on February 16, a bench of the Chief Justice, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice Vipul M. Pancholi issued notice on petitions challenging the Act and Rules, including the writ petition of RTI activist Venkatesh Nayak (W.P. (C) No. 177/2026) and the petitions of Nitin Sethi and the Reporters’ Collective. The Court declined to stay the Act at that stage, observing that it would not put in place through an interim order a regime enacted by Parliament, and referred the matter to a larger bench.
The earlier petitions target Section 44(3) of the Act, which amends Section 8(1)(j) of the Right to Information Act, and also challenge Section 36 and Rule 23, which let the Central Government call for information from data fiduciaries, as well as the structure and independence of the Data Protection Board. It is not yet known whether the publishers’ petition will be tagged with that batch.
The legal position
The Act regulates the processing of digital personal data and generally requires a lawful basis, usually consent, for such processing. The publishers’ contention, as argued in Court, is that this framework, applied to news gathering, cuts into the freedom of the press protected under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution. The Union’s response is yet to be filed, and the Court has not ruled on either side’s position.
Why the order matters
The petition brings a new class of petitioner into the challenge to the Act: media organisations whose daily work involves personal information about public and private persons. The Chief Justice’s question on self-regulation signals that any interim protection would depend on what accountability framework the publishers can show, while the refusal to act ex parte keeps the Union’s response central to the next stage.
Case Title: Digital News Publishers Association v. Union of India (case number not reported)
Bench: Chief Justice of India Surya Kant (other members not reported)
Date of Order: October 27, 2026
Appearances: Senior Advocate Madhavi Divan for the petitioner association