New Delhi, Dec 16 (PTI) The joint parliamentary panel on the Personal Data Protection Bill has suggested "enough safeguards" to protect individual privacy but it cannot override national security, panel chairperson P P Chaudhary said on Thursday.

"When there is a conflict between national security and individual privacy then there is a stated policy of our country as per the Constitution that nation comes first and individual privacy comes second," he said, adding in such an instance the government can order its agencies to process data of any individual without permission.

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The Joint Committee on the Personal Data Protection Bill-2019 tabled its report in both Houses of Parliament on Thursday.

Key highlights of the report include widening the scope of the draft legislation to cover non-personal data, tighter regulation for social media platforms and the establishment of a statutory media regulatory authority, according to a release from the Lok Sabha Secretariat.

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Many panel members from opposition parties had given dissent notes on the clause 35 of the proposed law which deals with exemptions for the government for processing data of individuals without seeking permission.

"It is misconceived that the government has more surveillance power in clause 35 of the proposed law. The committee has ensured enough safeguards of protecting individual privacy," Chaudhary told PTI.

However, he added, when it comes to "sovereignty and integrity" of the country then the government can authorise any agency by recording reasons in writing to process personal data and "there is nothing wrong in it."

"...when there is a conflict between national security and individual privacy then there is a stated policy of our country as per the Constitution that nation comes first and individual privacy comes second. The panel has also recommended that the rules, which are supposed to be framed by the government, for giving exemption to certain agencies should be fair, reasonable and proportionate," the BJP MP said.

Section 35 of the proposed law talks about empowering the central government and its law enforcing agencies to process data without seeking permission from the individual for the purpose of sovereignty, safety of the State and for friendly relations with foreign states.

The panel has also recommended that all social media platforms, which do not act as intermediaries, be treated as "publishers" and be held accountable for the content they host. It has suggested that no social media platform should be allowed to operate in India unless the parent company handling the technology sets up an office in India.

It has also sought to widen the sphere of data protection legislation by including personal and non-personal data, saying defining or restricting the new legislation only to personal data protection or to name it as Personal Data Protection Bill is "detrimental to privacy".

The Joint Committee of Parliament had adopted last month the report on the Personal Data Protection Bill. The proposed legislation seeks to provide the government with powers to give exemptions to its probe agencies from the provisions of the Act, a move that has been strongly opposed by the opposition MPs who filed their dissent notes.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)