The Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Bill was passed by Rajyasabha yesterday and is soon likely to be signed by the President into an Act. We shall call it PROGA 2025. We still need the Rules to be notified and an E Sports Authority to be formed. Going byor the precedence of DPDPA 2023, and the possibility of a legal challenge to the Bill under “State Jurisdiction” Vs “Central Jurisdiction”, there could be some time before the provisions of the Act are notified for implementation.
I would like the constitutional experts to however consider that Cyber Space is not physical space. While opening a club where Real Money games or casinos or betting take place come under the State regulations, any activity in Cyber Space comes only under Central Jurisdiction.
State may have some jurisdiction to address the impact of an action in Cyber Space on people in the physical space but regulation of the Cyber Space activity itself is outside the jurisdiction of the State.
Just as the Maritime Zone and Sky or even the Electro mangetic signals in the Spectrum space come under the Central Jurisdiction, Cyber Space also comes under Central Jurisdiction.
Further the power to make legislations on actions that affect the “Neuro Space” such as causing addiction of human beings, is also not under State powers.
At best, it can be considered as coming under “Concurrent List” for jurisdictional purpose.
Hence Courts should consider this Act well within the domain of the Central Government. Hope this is taken note of by the authorities.
This is the fit time to legally clarify and settleone important principle of defining “Cyber Space” and its jurisdictional aspects similar to Maritime Zone of Jurisdiction of the Sky above land or the Spectrum Space, as a “Space that comes under the jurisdiction of the Central Government. The passage of ITA 2000 itself is indicative of that principle that “The space created by binary signals ” is defined as “Cyber Space” and comes under the jurisdiction of the center. This can be re-iterated now.
Naavi
