The Union government must set up data protection authorities at the state and national level, and provide adjudicatory powers to these authorities, Rajya Sabha MP Dr. Amar Patnaik has suggested in his dissent note carried in the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) report on the Data Protection Bill, 2021. “A state-level data protection authority would be ideally positioned and suited to handle events relating to consent and data breaches occurring in the geographical area,” Dr. Patnaik said. The JPC report along with the Data Protection Bill, 2021 was tabled in both houses of the Parliament on December 16, after two years of deliberations. The dissent notes from committee members give a view of what the current draft of the bill fails to take into account. Here’s our complete guide to the Data Protection Bill, 2021 Constitute Data Protection Authority at the state level Patnaik recommended a two-tier structure for data protection authorities at the national and the state level as a constitutional and administrative imperative. He cited Indian laws like the Right to Information Act and Consumer Protection Act as precedents, and suggested drawing elements from the German and European frameworks. Reason for recommendation: The dissent note reasoned that the bill in its current form puts a strain on federalism and will create problems in implementation. “Nothing was done to change the design and architecture of the Bill until its final adoption on 22.11.2021 even though I had made repeated observations regarding setting up of state-level Data Protection Authorities from a…
