Parliamentary Panel Adopts Report On Personal Data Protection Bill Amid Dissent By Congress, TMC MPs

As per PDP Bill, Centre can exempt its agencies from provisions of the Act for protecting national interests and for protecting security of the state, public order, sovereignty, & integrity of India.

New Delhi: After nearly two years of discussions, the Joint Committee of Parliament on the Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019 on Monday adopted the report on the Bill which provides the Centre with powers to give exemptions to its probe agencies from the provisions of the Act.

The move was opposed by opposition MPs who filed their dissent notes, news agency PTI reported.

Congress leader and chief whip of the party in Rajya Sabha, Jairam Ramesh, was among the four MPs from the Congress along with two MPs from the Trinamool Congress and one from the Biju Janata Dal who submitted their dissent notes on the report of the Committee headed by PP Chaudhary.

The Bill which seeks to provide for the protection of personal data of individuals and establish a Data Protection Authority for the same, was brought in Parliament in 2019 and was then referred to the Joint Committee for further scrutiny following the demand of opposition members.

According to the PDP Bill, the Union government can exempt its agencies from the provisions of the Act for protecting national interests and for protecting the security of the state, public order, sovereignty and integrity of India.

Exemption of certain provisions for processing of personal data in the interests of prevention, detection, investigation and prosecution of any offence or any other contravention of any law was also provided for in the Bill.

The opposition members objected to granting “unbridled powers” to the Union government for exempting any of its probe agencies, including the Enforcement Directorate and CBI from the purview of the entire Act, PTI mentioned in its report.

Some of the opposing MPs suggested that the Centre seek parliamentary approval for allowing exemptions to its agencies from the purview of the Act as a safeguard for ensuring greater accountability, however, the suggestion was not accepted.

The PDP Bill and this report can potentially become another point of contention between the government and the opposition in the upcoming Winter session of Parliament starting November 29.

The JCP has made a total of 93 recommendations, PTI credited sources as informing. It seeks to maintain a fine balance between the functioning of government by processing data for the benefit of individuals and equally protecting the privacy of the individual, they said.

Parliamentary Committee head PP Chaudhary said the government and its agencies have been exempted from processing the data of individuals if used for the benefit of individuals and no consent is required in case the matter also relates to national security.

The report is the outcome of extensive deliberations by all members and stakeholders, he stated.

“This law will have a global impact and will set international standards in data protection,” PP Chaudhary told PTI.

Objection Raised By Congress & TMC MPs

Earlier today, registering his dissent, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh had lauded the democratic manner in which the panel functioned for the past four months.

“I'm compelled to submit a detailed dissent note. But that should not detract from the democratic manner in which the Committee has functioned. Now, for the debate in Parliament”

“Finally, it is done... There are dissent notes but that is in the best spirit of parliamentary democracy. Sadly, such examples are few and far between under the Modi regime,“ he added.

He said he was compelled to submit a detailed dissent note on the bill as his suggestions were not accepted and he was unable to convince the members.

Besides Ramesh, Congress MPs Manish Tewari, Gaurav Gogoi and Vivek Tankha had submitted their dissent notes, along with TMC’s Derek O'Brien and Mohua Moitra and BJD’s Amar Patnaik, PTI reported.

Tewari and Gogoi also said they had submitted their dissent notes to the Secretariat of the Committee after the final meeting of the JCP on PDP Bill.

On the other hand, as per PTI sources, the TMC MPs raised questions on the panel’s functioning as they described the bill as “Orwellian” in nature. They alleged that it rushed through its mandate and did not provide sufficient time and opportunity for stakeholder consultations, the sources said.

The MPs also opposed the bill for lack of adequate safeguards to protect the right to privacy of data principles, they added.

It was informed that in the dissent note, they have also opposed the recommendations for the inclusion of non-personal data in the legislation.

The TMC MPs stated that the bill provides overboard exemptions to the Government of India, without proper safeguards in place.

Jairam Ramesh, in his dissent note, mentioned the JCP’s report allows a period of two years for private companies to migrate to the new data protection regime but the government and their agencies have no such stipulation.

He argued the Bill’s design assumes that the constitutional right to privacy arises only where operations and activities of private companies are concerned.

The committee report has also maintained a penalty clause while fixing the upper limit, sources told PTI.

In case of minor delinquencies, the penalty on data fiduciary will not exceed Rs five crore or two per cent of total worldwide turnover. For major delinquencies, a penalty shall also be laid down by the Central government but it will not exceed Rs 15 crore or four per cent of its total worldwide turnover of the data fiduciary, they said.

(With Agency Inputs)