Legislative History of Information Technology Act -2000 (ITA
2000)
The legal history of ITA 2000 starts with the draft of E-Commerce Act 1998
made available some time in 1998 based on the UNCITRAL Model law on
E-Commerce. Now with the passage of the Information Technology Act 2000
Amendment Bill in December 2008, the legislation has reached a significant
stage in the development of Cyber Laws in India. During this journey,
Naavi.org has been taking several steps towards disseminating information
on the law through the website. These are collated in this section.
When the draft of E-Commerce Act 1998 became
available on the net for the first time, Naavi was the first to take it up
for public debate. The draft was put up on Naavi's website (naavi.com
which is now being squatted) inviting public comment.
Naavi also collated public comments through
Netizen's Fourm to
provide their suggestions which was
then be sent to the Government of India for further action.
Naavi also wrote a book which became the first book on
the subject in India so that some of the aspects of the Bill could be
explained. (A free
e-archive of the book is available here)
When the amendments were proposed in 2005 after the
Gurgaon-Karan Bahree case and baazee.com episode, Naavi had again
submitted recommendations
for amendments.
When the final suggestions came from the "Expert
Committee" constituted for the purpose of recommending the amendments, it
was a shocker. Naavi again took upon the mission to educate the masses
about the "Criminal Friendly" legislation sought to be passed. For some
time the recommendations were put in cold storage.
However, this year after another Gurgaon BPO Case
hitting the headlines, the proposed amendments have again been taken out
of the cold storage and passed through the Cabinet Committee. It will be
placed in the Parliament any time in November-December 2006.
At this point of time Naavi has again tried to place
before the public his concerns on the proposed amendments which are
contained in this section of the website.
Naavi
November 1, 2006
The Information Technology Act -2000 Amendment Bill was
introduced in the Parliament on December 15, 2006. This was called the
Information Technology Act Amendment Bill 2006. (ITAA 2006). This was also
passed by the Cabinet Committee. However a standing committee of the
Parliament under the chairmanship of Mr Nikhil Kumar
aborted the final clearance with an emphatic rejection of many of the
controversial propositions which Naavi.org had been pointing out for
nearly two years. The Bill was therefore returned to the department of
changes.
November, 1 2007
It is understood that the Ministry of Communications
and Information Technology (MCIT) has prepared a new draft of the
Information Technology Act 2000 Amendment Bill 2006 and will be tabling it
in the next winter session of the parliament between
October 17 to November 21, 2008. We hope that
MCIT is addressing the concerns expressed by the Standing Committee while
rejecting the bill at the first instance.
September 01, 2008
The Information Technology Act
2000 Amendment Bill is expected to be
presented in the session starting on December 10th. In the meantime, the
Mumbai terror attacks on 26th November has introduced a sense of urgency
to amendments which address the issue of "Cyber Terrorism".
(See comments
here)
December 05, 2008
The Information Technology Act
2000 Amendment Bill was presented in the
Parliament on 15th December 2008, passed in Loksabha on 22nd and in
Rajyasabha on 23rd. There were no debates in either of the houses which
were completely engrossed in the discussions around Mr A R Antulay's
remarks on Mumbai terrorist attack. The Bill needs to get the Presidential
assent and has to be notified. An analysis of the final Bill as passed
would be presented when the copy of the Bill as passed is available in the
public domain.
December 23,2008
The copies of ITA
2008 along with section to section comparison with ITA 2000 and ITA 2006
are now available on this site. This has been constructed out of ITA 2000
(as amended earlier upto 2003), the
Information technology Amendment Bill 2006 presented in the Parliament
on 15th December 2006, and the
deliberations in Loksabha on December 22, 2008. Use the links in the left menu.
These are the first copies of these documents available in India.
The MCIT website also does not have current copies of ITA 2000 or the
amendments. In
case you find mistakes, please inform
naavi@vsnl.com. We await information
on Presidential assent and further rules and notifications.
December 26, 2008
ITA Amendment Bill 2008 was
signed into an Act by the President on 5th February 2009, through a
Gazette
Notification
February 5, 2009
Current Status of ITA 2000
Amendments:
Government of India is
now in the process of framing the rules which are required under the
amendments. On completion of this exercise, the date of effect of the
amendments would be notified. It is expected that this may be completed by
end of June 2009. Draft Rules are available presently
here.
ITA 2008 Notified
After a long wait, finally the
Information technology Amendment act 2008 has been notified for
effectiveness with effect from October 27, 2009. As per the
PIB release the notification covers rules pertaining to sections
52,54,69,69A,69B, and 70B has been notified. These relate to the Cyber
Appellate Tribunal and CERT related provisions. These are the first
notifications under the Amendment. We await further information and a copy
of the Gazette notification for understanding the full impact of the
notification.
Copy of the Gazette
Notification is available here.
October 27, 2009
New Rules Notified
Rules were notified under
Sections 43A (Sensitive Personal information), 79 (intermediaries),
Cyber Cafe Regulations (also under Sec 79) and Section 6A (Electronic
Service Delivery) on April 11, 2011.
( All
rules are available here)
April 11, 2011
