Personal data protection bill JPC gets new chief in P P Chaudhary

Will move a motion on Friday in lower House to extend the time to present the report of the committee

Newly-appointed chairman of the committee overseeing the much-awaited Personal Data Protection Bill, P P Chaudhary, along with Lok Sabha member Bhartruhari Mahtab will move a motion on Friday in the lower House of Parliament to extend the time to present the report of the committee.

"That this House do extend up to the first week of the Winter Session of Parliament, 2021, the time for presentation of the Report of the Joint Committee on the Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019,” a Lok Sabha communique said on Thursday.

Chaudhary, who was earlier Minister of State for Ministry of Law and Justice, Electronics and Information Technology, and Corporate Affairs, has been appointed chairperson of the joint parliamentary committee (JPC) deliberating the Personal Data Protection Bill.

The earlier chairperson Meenakshi Lekhi was recently appointed MoS of External Affairs and Culture ministries.

Ministers cannot head Parliamentary Committees, hence a change in the chairmanship of the JPC was imminent.

The legislation is much awaited, especially as cybercrime rises amid the pandemic.

India does not have a specific legislation dealing with user data breach cases or penal actions relating to the same as yet. The Personal Data Protection Bill, which is proposed to deal with such cases of data breaches has been pending in the Lok Sabha since 2019.

Recent cases on data breaches have brought the issue centrestage, but in the absence of a concrete law, users do not have much recourse.