Letter to Joint Parliamentary Committee on inviting civil societies for consultation on draft Data Protection Bill
SFLC.IN wrote to Ms. Meenakshi Lekhi, Chairperson, Joint Parliamentary Committee on Data Protection Bill urging her to have a wide and diverse stakeholder consultation process for the draft Data Protection Bill.
India is a participatory democracy and consultation processes of legislation as important as the Data Protection law must reflect views of all the stakeholders involved. While the Committee has invited social media intermediaries, fin-tech companies, travel aggregators for oral consultation, civil society organisations working for defending rights of citizens in the digital space have been left out of the consultation process.
Civil society organizations play an important role by advocating for rights of the people and acting as a medium of checking the encroachment on people’s rights. Through this letter, we sincerely hope that the Joint Parliamentary Committee, under your chairpersonship, will invite civil society organisations that defend rights of citizens in the digital space for consultation on the draft Data Protection Bill.
You can read our letter here:
17.11.2020
To
Ms. Meenakshi Lekhi
Chairperson,
Joint Parliamentary Committee
The Personal Data Protection Bill
Respected Ms. Lekhi,
Greetings from SFLC.IN!
Subject: Invitation to civil society organizations for consultation on draft Data Protection Bill for wider and diverse consultation.
We write this letter to urge you to have wide and diverse stakeholder consultation process for the draft Data Protection Bill. Time and again, civil society organizations such as SFLC.in defending digital rights of citizens have highlighted the core deficiencies in the draft Bill including the lack of surveillance reforms, wide exemptions, and the problems with the Data Protection Authority.
India is a participatory democracy and consultation processes of legislation as important as the Data Protection law must reflect views of all the stakeholders involved. While the Committee has invited social media intermediaries, fin-tech companies, travel aggregators for oral consultation, civil society organisations working for defending rights of citizens in the digital space have been left out of the consultation process.
Civil society organizations play an important role by advocating for rights of the people and acting as a medium of checking the encroachment on people’s rights. Through this letter, we sincerely hope that the Joint Parliamentary Committee, under your chairpersonship, will invite civil society organisations that defend rights of citizens in the digital space for consultation on the draft Data Protection Bill.
Thanking you!
Regards,
Prasanth Sugathan
Legal Director,
SFLC.IN
prasanth@sflc.in
Copy to:
Shri B.N. Mohapatra,
Joint Director,
Lok Sabha
Email:jpc-datalaw@sansad.nic.in
Contact: 23035460; 23035164
About SFLC.IN
SFLC.IN is the first Indian legal services organization that works exclusively on technology, law, and policy.
As a not-for-profit organization engaged in the empowerment of Indian citizens about their digital freedom
and rights, it operates as a collective bringing together different stakeholders to a common platform to further
the cause of digital rights. SFLC.in promotes innovation and open access to knowledge by helping policy
makers make informed and just decisions regarding the use and adoption of technology. As of 2020 SFLC.in
is the only Indian organization to be inducted as a member of the IFEX, a global network to defend the right
to freedom of expression and information.
