[IN] ADEQUACY OF THE DPDP ACT VIS-À-VIS RIGHT TO PRIVACY AT WORKPLACE

Abstract

The world is witnessing a digital revolution. Algorithms are steadily sneaking into all aspects of our lives influencing our day to day affairs. The steady increase in datafication of the small mundane realities of life makes one fear about the rise of surveillance not only by the state but private entities as well. In India, though the Puttaswamy Judgment recognised the right to privacy particularly informational privacy as part of Article 21, the enforcement of the Digital Personal Data Protection Act [“DPDP Act” or “the Act”] is still awaited. The DPDP Act, as per its Preamble tries to strike a balance between the right to privacy and the right to process data.  However, the Act does not define ‘privacy’. This raises the suspicion- whether the act is adequately equipped to protect privacy? India’s privacy framework will be applicable on myriad sectors such as healthcare, digital governance, compliance by corporate houses et cetera. This paper is an attempt to investigate into the aspect of how far the DPDP secures the right to privacy especially informational privacy at workplace. This investigation is significant not only in the background of rise in the use of monitoring tools but also because of skewed employee-employer power dynamic. This paper tries to understand the potency of the Indian data protection law in the background of employee privacy by firstly understanding various provisions that affect privacy at workplace in general and thereafter shift the focus to Section 7(i) of the Act. We delve into the history of the provision in this regard and do a comparative analysis with the similarly placed provision in the General Data Protection Regulation and Personal Data Protection Act, Singapore. Thereafter,
we shall offer some suggestions on how data privacy can be better protected at workplace by making suitable amendments to the certain provisions in the Act and thereafter provide a conclusion.