Justice Srikrishna: Govt exemptions in Personal Data Protection law can be challenged in court, says Justice Srikrishna

Justice BN Srikrishna, the chief architect of the Personal Data Protection Bill, said the new provisions introduced by the government allowing itself to be exempted from the obligations of the proposed law can be challenged in the Supreme Court on the grounds of violating right to privacy.

Srikrishna, speaking on the sidelines of ITechLaw conference in Bengaluru on Thursday, said the proposed law won’t be constitutionally valid because it does not adhere to Supreme Court’s Puttuswamy judgment on privacy.

“There are bound to be challenges. There are grounds it can be challenged. It has given the government a blank cheque,” said Justice Srikrishna.

He said that he has written to the Joint Parliamentary Committee, formed to review the proposed law, highlighting his concerns with the proposed law.

Justice Srikrishna had told ET in December that the new proposed government exemptions could turn India into an Orwellian state. On Thursday, Justice Srikrishna said the newly proposed structure of the Data Protection Authority (DPA) puts the control of the body in the hands of the government.

“The new bill has weakened the independence of the DPA. The ideal thing would be that DPA become a constitutional authority like the Election Commission. There is a probability of it becoming a government stooge,” he said. Justice Srikrishna also added that the inclusion of non personal data in the Personal Data Protection Bill is dangerous.

“Non personal data needs a separate law. The government has sneaked it in this bill. In the universe of data, there is personal data, and then everything else is non personal data,” he said.