Draft rules allay fears of misuse of data Act

Companies can sigh with relief. The draft rules of the Collection of Statistics Act, cleared by Parliament earlier this year, neutralise some of the powers given to data collecting officials.

The new Act gives a statistics official, or a person authorised by him, the right to access documents and information and the power to enter the premises of a company where the information might be kept. Obstructing an official from collecting data is a criminal offence punishable with jail term of up to six months. Companies were concerned that this could be used to harass them.

However, the draft rules of the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation seek to make it easier for companies to comply with the process of data collection.

“The bare Act itself simply does not specify how the powers of the officials will be used. It builds up other things but does not actually say how to operationalise them,” said Pronab Sen, chief statistician of India and secretary to the ministry. “It is very important to understand that the rules are focused on improving data collection, rather than empowering officials.”

The rules provide for a two-tier nodal agency, one at the Centre and the other at the state level. All statistics officials have to be registered with and answerable to either of the two nodal agencies.

Moreover, the state nodal agency will be registered with the one at the Centre, establishing a chain of accountability. The ministry has sent the set of rules to the law ministry for approval, after which the new Act will be implemented.

Under the new guidelines, statistics officials will have to provide companies with a notice period approved by the nodal agency before they can inspect the books. Every official will have to sign an undertaking of confidentiality of data to ensure that it is not used against the company.