Personal data protection bill with par panel, 10 members nominated

The Rajya Sabha on Thursday passed a resolution to nominate its 10 members for a joint parliamentary committee which would review the Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019.

The Lok Sabha on Wednesday had referred the bill to a joint select committee of both Houses of Parliament.

A resolution moved by Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad in this regard was passed by the Rajya Sabha by a voice vote.

The panel will have 20 members from the Lok Sabha and 10 from the Rajya Sabha. The Upper House had to give the names of the members it wanted to send to the panel.

As per the resolution, the members of the committee are Bhupender Yadav, Suresh Prabhu, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Ashwini Vaishnaw, Jairam Ramesh, Vivek K Tankha, Derek O'Brien, A Navaneethakrishnan, Ram Gopal Yadav and Amar Patnaik.

The joint committee is expected to give its report before the end of the Budget Session which usually begins in the last week of January.

Moving the resolution in the Upper House, Prasad said, "We want to have a focussed joint committee on the bill. We expect the committee to submit the report by second or third week of the Budget Session."

Meanwhile, Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu said, "Yesterday, we have discussed the Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) 8:52 hours. Members from Assam and other northeastern states were given opportunity to speak and seek clarification. But I cannot allow to raise the issue (related to CAB) now. "

Naidu was speaking in reference to Congress member Ripun Bora who wanted to raise the issue related to the bill after protests in northeastern states.

When the chairman did not give a chance to Bora to raise the issue, he boycotted the proceedings and walked out of the House.

On this Naidu said, "We must respect the House. If you threaten me then I am the last person to be carried away by those threats."

Union Minister Pralhad Joshi then intervened and said that the government respected his sentiment and would do everything to protect the honour of the chair.