Do not table IT Committee report on Data Protection Bill, Rajya Sabha MP John Brittas tells Dhankar, Birla

The Digital Personal Data Protection Bill is set to be tabled in the Parliament in the ongoing Monsoon Session

Rajya Sabha MP John Brittas urged the Rajya Sabha chairman and Lok Sabha speaker to not accept the report of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Communications and Information Technology on the data protection bill as proper regulations were not followed in the preparation of its report. Brittas is also a member of the committee.

Earlier this week, the committee "adopted" a report endorsing the Digital Personal Data Protection Bill (DPDP) 2022. However, as Moneycontrol had earlier reported, it was unclear under what regulations the report was adopted since norms stipulate that a committee can only study and form a report on a bill after it is tabled in the Parliament.

Although the Union government has said that DPDP Bill is set to be tabled in the Parliament in the ongoing Monsoon Session, no formal date has been announced yet.

In the two letters, addressed to Rajya Sabha chairperson Jagdeep Dhankar and Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, accessed by Moneycontrol, Brittas said," According to the unequivocal provisions in Rules 331E (1) (b), 331H (a) & 331H (b) of Lok Sabha Rules and Rules 270 (b) & 273 (a) of the Rajya Sabha Rules, referred above, the Standing Committees are explicitly prohibited from examining any Bills that have not been referred to them by the Chairman or the Speaker after their introduction in either House."

"Hence, it is evident that the above Report of the Standing Committee on Communications and Information Technology, said to be adopted on 26th July 2023, is void ab initio and is ultra vires of the powers of the Standing Committee conferred by the Rules," Brittas added.

Last week in a meeting where the Shiv Sena MP Jadhav Prataprao Ganpatrao-headed committee announced that it had "adopted" a report, much to the chagrin of the committee's Opposition members. They had said that the modified version of the bill, which had been cleared by the Union Cabinet, was not made available to them.

Also read: Why the monsoon session of Parliament is crucial for data, privacy

Many of these members, including Brittas, staged a walkout and boycotted the meeting.

"It can be found beyond an iota of doubt that the impetuous action of the Committee in including comments and recommendations on this Bill is far beyond its jurisdiction and as such, rendering the Report liable to be nullified," Brittas said.

Earlier Brittas had also penned a dissent note on the IT Committee's report airing concerns regarding the Bill's powers on exemptions to government agencies from its provisions. It had also criticised the structure of the Data Protection Authority, which he had said, could become a "puppet of the centre".