Supreme Court declines Centre's offer to file panel's report on data protection

The Supreme Court today declined the Centre's offer to place on record the report of Justice B N Srikrishna committee on "data protection" for perusal of the five-judge Constitution bench, which had reserved the verdict on pleas challenging the validity of Aadhaar.

A five-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra, on May 10, had reserved the verdict on the pleas challenging the constitutional validity of Centre's flagship Aadhaar scheme and its enabling 2016 law after a hearing that gone on for 38 days.

Attorney General K K Venugopal, appearing for the Centre, today told the bench comprising CJI Misra and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud that the Justice Srikrishna committee has recently submitted the Personal Data Protection Bill, 2018 and its report and the Centre can submit it, if the court wishes so.

"I do not think that it is required," the CJI said after consulting justices Khanwilkar and Chandrachud who were also part of the Constitution bench that had heard the pleas against Aadhaar.

The Personal Data Protection Bill and the report have been submitted by the Justice Srikrishna panel recently to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.

The committee has suggested measures to be taken when it comes to protecting personal information of citizens, the role and duties of data processors and the rights of individuals.

The report also talked about the penalties that may be imposed for violation of these data protection measures.