JPC members record dissent towards parts of Personal Data Protection law

Penalties in the earlier draft of the PDP Bill ranged from Rs 5 crore to Rs 15 crore, or 2-4 per cent of the worldwide turnover of the entity depending on the nature of the offence

The Personal Data Protection Bill, in the making since 2018 and which could be tabled in Parliament on Tuesday, faces opposition from some members of the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC), mostly because of the wide exemptions given to the government in the final draft of the proposed legislation.

The Congress’ Jairam Ramesh, Manish Tewari, Vivek Tankha, and Gaurav Gogoi, the Biju Janata Dal’s Amar Patnaik, and the Trinamool Congress’ Derek O’Brien and Mahua Moitra have sent dissent notes to the committee chairman P P Chaudhary.

Many Opposition members of the committee are concerned that the proposed Bill, in the guise of national