House panel on IT readies report on Data Bill, Opposition dissents

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

The report said it «firmly believes that the implementation of the bill will be a momentous turning point in the domain of data processing, as it effectively brings the previously unregulated landscape under comprehensive regulation in a seamless and non-disruptive manner», according to sources in the panel. Opposition MPs, however, staged a walkout on Wednesday as they claimed that they were not made aware of the adoption of such a report by the committee.

Opposition MPs John Brittas and Jawhar Sircar on Thursday told ET that such a report can't be drafted when the draft of the bill cleared by the cabinet was not made available to committee members. According to sources, in the conclusion of the 12-page recommendation, a subset of the 40-page report, the committee states that it «agrees with provisions of the Draft Bill, (and) in no uncertain words recommend(s) that the Digital Personal Data Protection Bill, 2023 slated for introduction in Parliament, should be successfully enacted into law, without any undue delay».

However, opposition MPs told ET that it wasn't clear which version of the draft bill the report was referring to. Sources said CPI (M) MP John Brittas gave a detailed dissent note to the committee with specific concerns.

Chief among the concerns raised were — blanket exemptions for selected government agencies, and the question of whether these exemptions will meet the proportionality test as set out by the SC in the Puttaswamy Judgement. The committee, unfortunately, has taken a very soft stance on this matter, Brittas said in his dissent note, sources said.

Some other members, including Jawhar Sircar of Trinamool Congress, are also likely to submit dissent notes, they added. ET had reported on Thursday