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“The State can take away your rights, only if it can ensure that it is doing so for the greater good of the public”: Justice BN Srikrishna on Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019

Team SoOLEGAL 18 Jun 2020 3:11pm

“The State can take away your rights, only if it can ensure that it is doing so for the greater good of the public”: Justice BN Srikrishna on Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019

Justice BN Srikrishna in a webinar organised by Shyam Padman Associates on “The challenges in personal data protection in the absence of any data protection law in India” said, “Unfortunately, in my opinion, PDP Bill 2019 has watered down this provision which allows the State to unilaterally infringe the Fundamental Right to Privacy in the name of sovereignty and security.”

Justice Srikrishnna who was an eminent speaker in the webinar highlighted the importance of technology, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic. He also took note of the value of personal data to both the e-commerce organizations and the individuals

Justice Srikrishna is a prominent personality in the field of data protection as he has chaired the committee which drafted the Data protection Bill 2018, later revised and approved as the Data Protection Bill 2019. The DBP 2019 came under heavy criticism by the proponents of Right to Privacy. Justice Srikrishna further said that the Bill can turn the nation into an “Orwellian State”.

In the webinar the aspect of consent was also discussed, in that regard Justice Srikrishna referred to contractual relationships. In contractual relationships there are certain parameters that are fulfilled before a contract is initiated, consent being one of them.

However, when it comes to data protection he also said that there are certain situations where consent is already presumed. In this regard he stated, “When you enter a mall, there are CCTVs. Or when you are on the road, there are speed monitors which note your license plate. The legal principle which arises here is that there are certain situations where consent is presumed."He also enumerated the circumstances in which data can be collected without consent, one of them being the Covid-19 pandemic as its research involves data collection.

Justice Srikrishna stated the Bill falls short on certain principles, one of them being the lack of data localisation, which might enable the transfer of data outside the nation.While concluding the session, he also referred to certain aspects of data protection present in the General Data Protection Regulation (EU’s data privacy legislation).

When asked about the State's right to access a suspect's data, Justice Srikrishna said that the government could do so and that the legislation had to provide a clear protocol for how it would be carried out. In this regard, Justice Srikrishna criticized the revised PDP Bill of 2019 for removing safeguards on personal data protection for use of data by the State.



Tagged: Justice BN Srikrishna   Data Protection Bill 2019   Shyam Padman Associates   Fundamental Right   Covid-19   pandemic  
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