Joint committee report on Data Protection Bill tabled in both Houses of Parliament

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The much-awaited report of the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019 was tabled in both the houses of Parliament on December 16.

Congress Member of Parliament Jairam Ramesh laid the JPC report on the table in Rajya Sabha while BJP MP, PP Chaudhary, the chairperson of the panel, tabled the report in Lok Sabha.

The report by the committee reviewing the country’s first proposed data protection law has been tabled two years after it was introduced in the Lok Sabha.

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“This report shows if the chairman is cooperative, the government is accommodative and the Opposition is responsive,” Ramesh said after tabling the report in a subtle reference to ongoing impasse between the government and the opposition in Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha over suspension of 12 MPs and demand seeking resignation of MoS Home Ajay Misra Teni in connection with Lakhimpur Kheri violence.

Read: Winter Session of Parliament | Joint committee on Data Protection Bill to present its report in Lok Sabha today

Soon after Ramesh laid the report on the table Rajya Sabha was adjourned till 2 pm after Opposition uproar demanding resignation of Teni and a debate on Lakhimpur Kheri violence.  The Upper House was again adjourned till December 17 as protests continued. The Lok Sabha was also adjourned till December 17 amidst protests.

The JPC examining the Bill was on December 1 given sixth extension till the last week of the ongoing Winter session to submit its report. The panel had adopted a 250-page final report on the Bill on November 22 after nearly two years of deliberation. Some of the panel members, including Ramesh, have dissented to certain aspects of the Bill.

The Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019, introduced in Lok Sabha on December 11, 2019 by the then Union Minister of Electronics and Information Technology, Ravi Shankar Prasad, seeks to provide for protection of personal data of individuals, and establishes a Data Protection Authority, according to the PRS Legislative Research.

Also, read: Data protection bill is Orwellian, loaded in favour of the government: Justice BN Srikrishna

The Bill, which contains 98 clauses, was referred to the joint committee headed by BJP MP Meenakshi Lekhi in December 2019. Lekhi was replaced as chairperson by another BJP MP, PP Chaudhary, after she became the minister in Union cabinet in July 2021.

The 30-member panel was expected to submit its report in the Budget Session of Parliament in February.

Also, read: Why India must fortify its data privacy laws

The proposal for the Bill came after the Supreme Court declared in 2017 privacy a fundamental right and directed the government to come up with the data protection regime.