• Introduction:

In India there is no legislation which lay down the rules that are required to protect the data of a person. In recent times there have been allegations upon the government that the individual’s data has been used by the government without their permission. With so much of technological development and IT laws there it is a need of an hour where parallel laws related to data protection must be formed and an authority must be created.

• What are Data Protection Laws?

Law which provides guidelines on how to use the data of any personnel or any individual. These laws create an authority as well as give the security to the personal data of the individual where the privacy of any individual will be maintained.

In today’s world almost 80 countries have formed data protection laws where no government can use the data of any personnel or any customer.

• Personal Data Protection Bill, 2006:

In India various IT companies and BPO have access to all types of sensitive and personal data of individual across the world. All the data stored by these companies is in electronic form and such data is vulnerable because that particular data is used by the employees of that company and oftenly it is misused by the employees of the company.

There is no express legislation on this issue. In 2000 Information Technology Act was brought into force and a pari materia bill was introduced in the Parliament in the year 2006 i.e., Personal Data Protection Bill. However, this bill is yet to get the approval of the house. This bill was based on the general framework of the European Union Data Privacy Directive, 1996. The scope of the bill is extended up to the collection, processing and distribution of personal data.

The bill applies to government and the private companies who are involved in using the personal data as well as the bill talks about the appointment of Data Controllers who have the adjudicatory jurisdiction over the subject covered by the bill. The bill provides penalty for the offenders as well as grants the compensation to the victims.

• What is the future of data protection laws in India?

Recently a bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha. The objective of the bill is to protect the privacy of personal data and regulate the processing of sensitive and critical data and also to establish Data Protection Authority of India for regulations.

The basis of this particular bill lies on 3 parts:

1. The judgment given in KS Puttaswamy vs. Union of India where Right to Privacy was considered as the Fundamental Right;
2. Directions issued by the Supreme Court to Central Government to frame related laws; and
3. Justice Srikrishna recommendations and draft on privacy protection.

Justice Srikrishna said that privacy protection is a burning issue and it has 3 aspects related to it. “The citizen’s rights have to be protected, the responsibilities of the states have to be defined but the data protection can’t be at the cost of trade and industry.” So it can be clearly inferred that in his report that the particular rights are given to safeguard the rights of citizens but not at the cost of the development of the country. In his report he also proposed penalties for violation, criminal proceedings, setting up of the data authority provision of withdrawal of consent and concept of consent fatigue.

The bill that has been laid down in the parliament has certain provisions which might be very useful for the protection of the data and will also help the government to use the data for the sovereignty and national security.

• Conclusion

In today’s world one of the most important information is personal data. With so much of technological development a strong legislation is required to protect the data of an individual. The personal data may include thumb print, eye retina scan, digital signature, etc. These are certain kind of information for which an individual gives his/her permission to use without hesitation so it’s the duty of the government to frame data protection laws to help in saving the personal data or private data of any individual.