The Attorney General for India, Mr. R. Venkataramani, on Tuesday briefed a constitution bench of the supreme court about the new data protection bill which is prepared and is going to be introduced in the monsoon session of the parliament that is to start in July 2023.
The 5 Judge bench of justices KM Joseph, Ajay Rastogi, Aniruddha Bose, Hrishikesh Roy and CT Ravikumar noted the proffer of the Attorney General that the bill that would address all the issues of the present petitions will be table in the monsoon session of the parliament in July.
Furthermore, justice KM Joseph added that two judges those are justice Ajay and justice Joseph himself would be resigning in June 2023, the bench directed the petitions before the Chief Justice of India so that a new bench could be formed, preferably in the first week of August 2023, after the tabling of the new bill during the monsoon session.
Mr. Shyam Divan a senior advocate coming into court on behalf of the petitioner averse pointing out that the government had been giving out assurances for months now. He stated that bench should not link the court hearings to the legislature processes, which is a complex process and can cause delay. He also submitted that, when it first came up for hearing the bench was notified that the bill would be introduced in the winter session of the parliament, but then that did not happen.
Mr. Shyam Divan’s statements were repudiated by the Attorney General, he submitted that for a good law to be made the bill has to go through a qualified consultative process.
Back in September 2022, it was notified to the bench by the Solicitor General, Mr. Tushar Mehta, that the Data Protection Bill introduced in the parliament has been withdrawn and a comprehensive bill is underway. The bench had adjourned the hearing of the matter to January 2023, considering the Centre’s statement regarding preparation of the bill.
In January 2023, bench was notified that the Data Protection Bill is to be presented in the second half of the budget session 2023. It was impetrated by Senior Advocate Mr. Kapil Sibal who was appearing on the behalf of WhatsApp that bench should take up the matter once the bill is introduced.
the bench further adjourned the matter up until February 2023 and later consider if the matter needs to be taken up or the introduction of the bill is to be waited for.
In February of 2023, the Attorney General indicated some concerns similar to the Solicitor General, he was anxious about court’s cogitation on the draft might influence the debate in parliament, he sought the hearing to be postponed till then. The matter was stood up until April 2023, after getting notified that the bill is to be presented before the cabinet in the second half of the budget session to get its approval.
In the meanwhile, the court directed WhatsApp appearing through Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal to publicize it’s undertaking that users of WhatsApp in India don’t have to accept it’s 2021 privacy policy to continue using the app and until the bill comes into existence functions of WhatsApp would remain as it is.
NAME- PRANJAL JHA, SEMESTER- 2ND, COLLEGE- AMITY LAW SCHOOL, NOIDA
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