The PDP Bill was first drafted by the Justice Srikrishna committee in 2018 but it has been under review by a Joint Parliamentary Committee for nearly three years. Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla said that the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on the Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019 would not get any extensions to submit its report, The Hindu Business Line reported. Birla reportedly made the remark at a press conference on the upcoming Monsoon Session of Parliament. "Most of the work of the Committee is over. Now, a new chairperson has to be nominated. I hope this will not affect submission of report. No further time will be given," Birla reportedly said. The Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019 isn't in the bulletin issued by the Lok Sabha, and yet the speaker has said that no further time will be given, indicating that either a new chairperson may be appointed and soon after, the bill may be introduced for passing, or the report might be submitted in the Monsoon Session with the bill being introduced later. Why it matters: Since the Puttaswamy judgement in 2017 at the Supreme Court of India, the government has been under an obligation to pass a legislation to protect Indians' personal data. Steps like a data protection regulator, localisation requirements for data, and other aspects of the bill have been closely watched by the industry for years. Even as uncertainty looms over the current contours of the bill, data breaches continue to be regularly reported, with companies…
