Delhi HC defers hearing of plea challenging validity of online gaming rules

Online-gaming Delhi High Court

A two judge bench of Delhi High Court on July 13 deferred the hearing a petition filed by an Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) called Social Organization for Creating Humanity (SOCH)  challenging the constitutional validity of the  Information Technology
(Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Amendment
Rules, 2023 which pertain to online gaming.

The case is now likely to come up for hearing in September 2023.

As the petition challenged the validity of the rules on the competence of the central government, the court has asked the lawyers for the Centre to argue on the laws that gives them the power to frame the rule. The court has also asked the government to show them the constitution of the committee that formulated the rules.

The lawyers appearing for the government questioned why a Noida- based NGO would challenge the validity of online gaming rules. They further told the court that this was a 'proxy litigation' with 'vested interests' and urged the court to dismiss it.

According to the government, the petition seeks setting up of self-regulatory body to regulate online gaming, however the rules already contemplate the same.

Appearing for SOCH, senior counsel Ritin Rai argued that constitutionally, only the states have the power to frame rules on online gaming. He pointed out that states such as Tamil Nadu and Karnataka have framed their own rules for online gaming, even though they are presently under challenge in the courts.

Rai argued that self-regulatory body does not have a single government representative, giving it powers to authorise whatever it deems fit. He argued that the government cannot abdicate its role of overseeing and monitoring of the online gaming sector and outsource
its responsibility to private bodies.

The court on hearing the plea, asked the government to demonstrate how it has the competence to introduce such rules and the formulation of the committee that introduced these rules.