Monsoon Session: Govt Lists Bills On Delhi Services Ordinance, Digital Data Protection

Other bills include a draft legislation to check film piracy, introduce age-based categories for censor certification and set up the National Research Foundation.

The Monsoon Session of Parliament will start on July 20 and will continue till August 11.

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New Delhi: The government on Thursday listed 21 bills, including the one on the contentious Delhi ordinance, personal data protection, to amend forest conservation laws, for the upcoming Monsoon Session of the Parliament beginning July 20, news agency PTI reported.

According to the report, a bulletin issued by the Lok Sabha Secretariat listed other bills including a draft legislation to check film piracy, introduce age-based categories for censor certification and set up the National Research Foundation. The National Research Foundation bill was cleared by the cabinet recently. 

The Government of NCT of Delhi (Amendment) Bill, 2023 aims at replacing the ordinance that gave Centre powers over bureaucracy under the Delhi government.

Notably, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his Cabinet ministers have been seeking the support of various political parties to get the legislation blocked if the Centre tables a bill to replace the ordinance in the Parliament Monsoon session.

After the Supreme Court ruled in May that the Delhi government had executive power over "services", including the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), the Centre brought an ordinance days later making the Lieutenant Governor the final arbiter in the matter.

The Data Protection Bill has the provision of penalties ranging up to Rs 250 crore for each incident of data breaches failing to take safeguards to prevent personal data breaches. According to a report by The Hindu Business Line, schedule 1 of the Bill specifies the quantum of various penalties, that range from Rs 10,000 to Rs 250 crore depending on the seriousness of the violation.

Among other bills that have been listed for consideration are the Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Bill, the Multi-State Cooperative Societies (Amendment) Bill. 

According to a report by Deccan Herald, the government also plans to bring the Drugs, Medical Devices and Cosmetics Bill, to regulate the import, manufacture, distribution and sale of drugs, medical devices and cosmetics.

The bill will also deal with clinical trials of new drugs and clinical investigation of medical devices.

The Monsoon Session of Parliament will start on July 20 and will continue till August 11.