India DPDPA: Article 29 – Appeal to Appellate Tribunal
29. Appeal to Appellate Tribunal
(1) Any person aggrieved by an order or direction made by the Board under this Act may prefer an appeal before the Appellate Tribunal.
(2) Every appeal under sub-section (1) shall be filed within a period of sixty days from the date of receipt of the order or direction appealed against and it shall be in such form and manner and shall be accompanied by such fee as may be prescribed.
(3) The Appellate Tribunal may entertain an appeal after the expiry of the period specified in sub-section (2), if it is satisfied that there was sufficient cause for not preferring the appeal within that period.
(4) On receipt of an appeal under sub-section (1), the Appellate Tribunal may, after giving the parties to the appeal, an opportunity of being heard, pass such orders thereon as it thinks fit, confirming, modifying or setting aside the order appealed against.
(5) The Appellate Tribunal shall send a copy of every order made by it to the Board and to the parties to the appeal.
(6) The appeal filed before the Appellate Tribunal under sub-section (1) shall be dealt with by it as expeditiously as possible and endeavour shall be made by it to dispose of the appeal finally within six months
from the date on which the appeal is presented to it.
(7) Where any appeal under sub-section (6) could not be disposed of within the period of six months, the Appellate Tribunal shall record its reasons in writing for not disposing of the appeal within that period.
(8) Without prejudice to the provisions of section 14A and section 16 of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Act, 1997, the Appellate Tribunal shall deal with an appeal under this section in accordance with such procedure as may be prescribed.
(9) Where an appeal is filed against the orders of the Appellate Tribunal under this Act, the provisions of section 18 of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Act, 1997 shall
apply.
(10) In respect of appeals filed under the provisions of this Act, the Appellate Tribunal shall, as far as practicable, function as a digital office, with the receipt of appeal, hearing and pronouncement of decisions in respect of the same being digital by design.
What Article 29 Means for Your Business
Article 29 provides the right to appeal a Data Protection Board decision to the Appellate Tribunal (the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal, or TDSAT, currently designated for this purpose). This creates a two-tier adjudicatory system and gives organisations a formal route to challenge Board decisions they believe are incorrect.
- Appeals must be filed within 60 days of the Board’s order, missing this deadline forfeits the right to appeal unless the Appellate Tribunal condones the delay.
- The Appellate Tribunal can stay the execution of a Board order pending appeal, apply for a stay promptly if the order requires immediate action that you intend to contest.
- Build appeal rights into your DPDPA incident response framework, know in advance who will make the decision to appeal and what the internal approval process looks like.
- Legal representation before the Appellate Tribunal is advisable, retain counsel experienced in both data protection law and administrative tribunal practice.