Section 44 of Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 - Amendments to Certain Acts

Section 44 of the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 (DPDP Act) makes consequential amendments to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Act, 1997, the Information Technology Act, 2000 and the Right to Information Act, 2005.

Current commencement position: Sub-sections (1) and (3) of Section 44 came into force on 13 November 2025. Sub-section (2), which amends the Information Technology Act, 2000, is scheduled to come into force eighteen months from publication of the commencement notification. Accordingly, as on 24 September 2026, Section 44 is only partly in force.

What Section 44 does

Provision	Act affected	Effect	Status on 24 September 2026
Section 44(1)	Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Act, 1997	Updates the appellate tribunal references in Section 14(c).	In force from 13 November 2025.
Section 44(2)	Information Technology Act, 2000	Provides for omission of Section 43A, amendment of the proviso to Section 81, and omission of Section 87(2)(ob).	Not yet in force; scheduled under the commencement notification for eighteen months after 13 November 2025.
Section 44(3)	Right to Information Act, 2005	Substitutes clause (j) of Section 8(1) concerning personal information.	In force from 13 November 2025.

Text of Section 44 - Amendments to Certain Acts

(1) In section 14 of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Act, 1997, in clause (c), for sub-clauses (i) and (ii), the following sub-clauses shall be substituted, namely:-

"(i) the Appellate Tribunal under the Information Technology Act, 2000;

(ii) the Appellate Tribunal under the Airports Economic Regulatory Authority of India Act, 2008; and

(iii) the Appellate Tribunal under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023.".

(2) The Information Technology Act, 2000 shall be amended in the following manner, namely:-

(a) section 43A shall be omitted;

(b) in section 81, in the proviso, after the words and figures "the Patents Act, 1970", the words and figures "or the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023" shall be inserted; and

(c) in section 87, in sub-section (2), clause (ob) shall be omitted.

(3) In section 8 of the Right to Information Act, 2005, in sub-section (1), for clause (j), the following clause shall be substituted, namely:-

"(j) information which relates to personal information;".

Explanation of Section 44(1): TRAI Act amendment

Sub-section (1) amends Section 14(c) of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Act, 1997. The change updates the statutory list of appellate tribunals so that it expressly includes the Appellate Tribunal under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023. This amendment has been in force since 13 November 2025.

Explanation of Section 44(2): Information Technology Act amendments

Sub-section (2) contains three amendments to the Information Technology Act, 2000. It provides for omission of Section 43A, which concerns compensation for failure by a body corporate to protect data; insertion of a reference to the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 in the proviso to Section 81; and omission of clause (ob) of Section 87(2), which is connected with rule-making under Section 43A.

Important: These Information Technology Act amendments are not yet operative as on 24 September 2026. The Central Government's commencement notification places Section 44(2) in the group of provisions that comes into force eighteen months after publication of the notification dated 13 November 2025.

Explanation of Section 44(3): RTI Act and personal information

Sub-section (3) substitutes clause (j) of Section 8(1) of the Right to Information Act, 2005 with the words "information which relates to personal information;". Section 8 of the RTI Act sets out exemptions from disclosure. The substituted clause therefore concerns the treatment of personal information within the statutory exemptions from disclosure under the RTI Act. This amendment came into force on 13 November 2025.

Meaning and legal significance

Section 44 is a consequential-amendment provision. Instead of creating a standalone data-processing obligation, it aligns three existing central laws with the DPDP framework. Its practical effect must be read with the phased commencement notification because the three sub-sections did not all become operative on the same date.

Digital Personal Data Protection Rules, 2025

The Central Government notified the Digital Personal Data Protection Rules, 2025 under Section 40 of the DPDP Act. The Rules themselves also have phased commencement. For Section 44, however, the controlling commencement position is stated in the separate notification issued under Section 1(2) of the DPDP Act.

Official legal resources

For authoritative and updated material, refer to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology - Acts and Policies, the Gazette commencement notification G.S.R. 843(E), and the Digital Personal Data Protection Rules, 2025.

This page is an informational presentation of the statutory provision and commencement position. For legal proceedings or compliance decisions, verify the latest Gazette notifications and official statutory text.