Opposing the introduction of a parliamentary standing committee report on ‘Citizens’ Data Security and Privacy’ that deals with the Digital Personal Data Protection Bill, CPI(M) member John Brittas on August 1 pointed out that the Bill, which is yet to be introduced in Parliament, was never referred to the parliamentary panel and thus it is a breach of rules. Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar, however, dismissed his objection.
The Union Cabinet approved the Digital Personal Data Protection Bill, 2023, the latest version, only on July 5.
Also read: The Digital Personal Data Protection Bill, 2022
“The standing committee has overstepped and it is beyond their jurisdiction and it is breaching your (Chair) authority and the authority of this House,” Mr. Brittas said.
Mr. Dhankhar however, overruled the point of order and said it was right to place the report of a committee in the House and the “rest will follow in accordance with the rules”.
“But to take a stand that this august House must not have such kind of input, your point of order is devoid of any merit,” he said.
On July 26, the Opposition members had walked out of a meeting of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology, headed by Shiv Sena (Shinde) MP Prataprao Jhadav, opposing adoption of the report arguing this very point.
The draft report was circulated on the eve of the meeting and the members argued that none of them were told that such a report was in the works.
The standing committee had been discussing the subject “citizens’ data security and privacy” and the July 26 meeting was only the third on the subject since the committee was reconstituted in September 2022. It has had only two rounds of discussion with officials from the Electronics and Information Technology Ministry.
