'New data protection bill to be introduced in Monsoon session of Parliament'

The Centre told the Supreme Court on Tuesday a new data protection bill is ready and will be introduced in the Monsoon session of Parliament in July as the apex court heard a matter related to privacy concerns of social media usersAttorney General R Venkataramani told a Constitution bench headed by Justice KM Joseph the bill will address all the concerns raised in the present petitionsThe Monsoon session of Parliament commences in July and extends up to August each yearThe bench also comprising justices Ajay Rastogi Aniruddha Bose Hrishikesh Roy and C T Ravikumar took note of the submission and rected that the matter be placed before Chief Justice DY Chandrachud so that a new bench can be constituted as Justice Joseph is set to retire on June 16The matter has been posted for hearing in the first week of August 2023Senior advocate Shyam Divan appearing for the petitioners submitted the court should not link the court hearings to the legislative process as the court was told on three previous occasions that the bill on data protection is likely to be passedAlso Read Babri masjid demolition was carried out by Hindus not as Sena or BJP membersThe legislative process is complex and the may be referred to some committees he saidCountering Divans argument Venkataramani said consultation is a continuous process and the bill has gone through a very qualified consultation processiquestDont say we are taking time We want a good law to come Venkataramani assertedThe apex court said in its order We take note of the submission of the Attorney General that a bill which addresses all the concerns will be tabled in the Monsoon session of the Parliament commencing July 2023 Considering the circumstances we request the Registry to place the matter before the Chief Justice so that a bench can be constitutedThe apex court was hearing a plea filed by two students Karmanya Singh Sareen and Shreya Sethi challenging the contract between WhatsApp and its parent Facebook to provide access to calls photographs texts videos and documents shared by users calling it a violation of their privacy and right to free speechThe top court had on February 1 directed WhatsApp to widely publicise its undertaking given to the Centre that it will not limit functionality for users not agreeing to its 2021 privacy policy but will continue to remind users about the update and maintain this approach till the proposed data protection law comes into effectIn a letter to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology on May 22 2021 WhatsApp had assured the government that the privacy of users remains its highest priorityObserving that the matter needs consideration the Constitution bench had asked the mobile messaging app to publish advertisements in five newspapers publicising its 2021 undertaking given to the governmentThe apex court had earlier said it will examine whether it should consider now the plea challenging WhatsApps policy to share users data with parent company Facebook and others or will it be a mere academic exercise after the Centre submitted it was going to bring a data protection bill in the Budget sessionIt had observed that there was no harm in waiting for the bill to be tabled as heavens are not going to fall in the meanwhileThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever