PERSONAL DATA PROTECTION BILL 2019: AN ANALYSIS
In today’s
technology driven world, where every kind of information is accessible on
internet and lot of personal information being stored online, there is need for
personal data protection so that it is not misused and adds to other cyber
crimes. In India where Right to privacy is declared as a fundamental Right in
case of Justice K.S. Puttaswamy v Union of India[1] ,
the Supreme Court highlighted the right to privacy an extended Right to Life
under Article 21. Moreover it was also felt that there was a need of legal
regime in India for protection of personal data on digital media and for the
same government was asked to frame an expert committee. Accordingly a committee
of experts was formed on 31st July 2017 under chairmanship of B.N.
Sri Krishna who laid down
their first report “Personal Data Protection Bill 2018’ on 27th July
2018. However this bill had certain defects such as main regulatory committee
under the bill was under control of government that would favour the government
agencies in storage of personal information. Thus a revised new bill Personal
Data Protection Bill 2019 was laid down before Union Cabinet on 4 Dec 2019. Then
the bill was introduced in Lok Sabha on 11th Dec 2019 and on the same day
referred to Joint Parliamentary Committee for review. The Joint Parliamentary
Committee would submit the report regarding The
Personal Data Protection Bill 2019 by the end of monsoon session of
Parliament.
This Personal Data Protection Bill 2019 has certain
advantages such as this bill provides certain obligations to be followed by both
private companies as well as government while processing any personal
information, there are rights available to data principal (one whose personal
data is being stored and processed on internet) such as right to be forgotten
as well as right to access such data and there
are strict penalties if there is violation of any provisions of bill
such as the higher of which
extends up to INR 150 million or 4% of the total worldwide turnover of the data
fiduciary for the previous financial year, depending on the nature of the
offence.
However this
bill has certain defects such as there are exemptions allowed to government
agencies as well as Right to be forgotten which means the right to remove
personal data from the internet has a lengthy procedure that will ultimately
defeat the main object of the right. Thus right oriented data protection
legislation is need of hour to provide autonomy to data principal but at same
time there is need to strike a balance between the autonomy of data principal
as well as right to information. With most of companies on a
digitization spree, this bill is a valuable step towards a sustainable solution
that would help India in strengthening its data in its personal sphere.
Along with the defects it is yet to see whether this
bill if turned a law would decrease misuse of personal data on digital media or
will just turn out to be list of heavy obligations to be followed by data
fiduciaries to stay on internet.
Nice...............
ReplyDeleteWell compiled mam
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