Committee simply going through motions is grave injustice: Derek O'Brien to Par panel on Personal Data Protection Bill

Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha leader Derek O'Brien has accused the Joint Committee of Parliament examining the Personal Data Protection Bill 2019 of rushing through the deliberations at a time the country is in the middle of a pandemic and said it was "unfortunate" that the "essence" of the panel is being violated.

O'Brien wrote to panel chairperson Meenakshi Lekhi, a senior BJP MP, on Saturday expressing disappointment at the functioning of the joint committee, as it is planning to start a clause-by-clause examination of the contents of the Bill between November 11 and 13. The date may be extended depending on the completion of the task.

The Trinamool MP, who is a member of the 30-member multi-party panel, said it has raised "serious concerns" as the panel is going ahead before completing its consultations with all stakeholders.

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He said the stakeholders who are yet to be called include, but not limited to, consumer groups, e-commerce companies, online streaming platforms and aggregators, civil society groups and think-tanks operating in the domain. More legal groups with expertise in the areas of cyber policy, data privacy and data protection should also be invited to depose.

The committee had recently summoned Google, Facebook, Twitter, Amazon, Jio platforms, Paytm, Ola and Uber among others.

Claiming that indications are there that the panel is trying to hurry the process of legislation, he said there have been 18 meetings over a period of 10 months. In the first seven months, he said, the committee met only five times while in a span of next three months, there were 13 meetings.

"Now in the middle of a pandemic, the committee is meeting three days a week. This might work well for those MPs who live in Delhi-NCR. For those of us who have to take flights every week, this is not safe. This is why I have been asking for virtual meetings of the committee since March. But this request has not been granted yet," he said.

"I urge you not to rush through this. This is not how a Joint Parliamentary Committee functions. For a Bill that seeks to establish a comprehensive data policy in India, a committee which is simply going through the motions is a grave injustice," he said.

O'Brien said the committee has been formed with the mandate of both Houses of Parliament but it was "unfortunate that the essence of the JCP is being violated".

He urged Lekhi to invite a more diverse group of stakeholders while emphasising the need to further examine the potential issues that can affect these stakeholders as a result of the Bill.

"The Bill in its final form should be a reflection of the serious, deliberative law-making process that the Parliament of India stands for," he added.