Congress questions classification of Digital Data Protection Bill as Financial Bill

New Delhi, August 3

The Congress on Thursday questioned classification of the Digital Data Protection Bill as a Financial Bill.

“How Did the Digital Data Protection Bill get classified as a Financial Bill suddenly? If this bill on passage is certified as a money bill by @loksabhaspeaker @ombirlakota which seems to be the intent of getting it classed as a Financial Bill,  then Rajya Sabha can not vote on it”, Manish Tiwari, Congress Lok Sabha member, said in a tweet.

It can only recommend non-binding changes to Lok Sabha, Tiwari added.

Tiwari said the latest iteration of this Bill mocks the efforts put in by the Joint Committee of Parliament on the Data Protection Bill led by two members P P Chaudhary and Meenakshi Lekhi, respectively.

“It needs to be considered as a regular Bill and go to a JPC again”, Tiwari said.

Lending support to Tiwari, Congress leader and Rajya Sabha member Jairam Ramesh said it was not a hypothetical concern.

The Modi Government has in the past used the Money Bill route with Aadhaar, Tribunals and the PMLA amendments, Ramesh recalled.