ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Information Technology and Telecommunication on Thursday approved ‘The National Information Technology Board Bill, 2019’.
As per details, the National Information Technology Board (NITB) will now be authorised to acquire citizens’ data, partially or all, from the database of any government ministry. Should this data be acquired for any development or commercial purposes, the NITB and the ministry concerned will have to mutually agree on the terms of data sharing.
The bill aims to provide more autonomy to the NITB board.
While IT and Telecommunication Minister Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui appeared to be in a haste to get the bill passed, opposition members insisted on a detailed review of the clauses before making a decision regarding the bill.
Telecommunication Secretary Shoaib Ahmad Siddiqui briefed the committee over the salient features of the bill.
One of the notable points came from the funds and accounts section of the bill, which noted that the NITB will be allowed to make investments from its funds. Although the telecom secretary said that these investments will be “government approved”, it was not mentioned in writing in the proposed bill.
As committee member Makhdoom Zain Hussain Qureshi questioned about the said clause, the secretary replied, “All these investments will ultimately be audited by the auditor general and thereby they will be government approved.”
The bill also allowed the board to borrow independently, in addition to receiving any borrowed loans and funds from the government.
Some debate took place over a clause that allowed the prime minister to nominate the members of the board. Committee member Ali Gohar Khan said, “Today’s government can be tomorrow’s opposition, so such ‘rights’ should not be reserved only for the government but should be given to the opposition as well.”
On this, Committee Chairman Ali Khan Jadoon dismissed the reservation as being unfounded, saying, “Every ministry gets to appoint certain members in such boards and that by itself does not mean that the board or other stakeholders are deprived of any say in the appointment of the board members.”
The bill stated that the president will be the patron of the NITB while the IT & Telecom minister will be its vice chairman.
“While the bill will ensure autonomy to the board, it should clearly mention the extent of powers that the board can enjoy so that the officials concerned do not become extravagant with their powers and privileges and exceed their lawful powers under the argument that the board allowed it,” committee member Ghulam Mustafa Shah suggested.
The bill further suggested the development of a ‘National Disaster IT and Communication Action Plan’, as it would provide the NITB board with the right to investigate any breach in IT in different departments.
