Data Protection Bill: Parl panel summons Jio, Airtel, Uber, Ola, Truecaller

A Joint Committee of Parliament issued a notice on Wednesday calling representatives of telecom operators Reliance Jio and Airtel and cab aggregators Ola and Uber to depose before it on the issue of data security.

The committee, chaired by BJP MP Meenakshi Lekhi, is examining the Personal Data Protection Bill 2019.

According to the notice, representatives of Reliance Jio Infocomm and Jio Platforms have been called to depose before the panel on two different sittings on November 4. Representatives of Ola and Uber have been called to appear before the panel the next day.

Representatives of Airtel and Truecaller are scheduled to depose before the panel separately on November 6.Representatives of social media giants Facebook and Twitter and e-commerce major Amazon have already deposed before the panel.

Google and Paytm are scheduled to appear before the panel on October 29.

The Personal Data Protection Bill was introduced in Lok Sabha by Minister of Electronics and Information Technology Ravi Shankar Prasad on December 11, 2019. The bill seeks to provide for protection of personal data of individuals and establishment of a data protection authority for the same.

The bill was later referred to a joint select committee of both Houses of Parliament. The proposed law seeks bar on storing and processing of personal data by entities without the explicit consent of an individual.