The Madras High Court on Monday refused to grant any kind of interim relief to online gaming companies pending adjudication of a batch of cases filed by them as well as the All India Gaming Federation challenging the constitutional validity of Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Online Gambling and Regulation of Online Games Act, 2022.
Chief Justice S.V. Gangapurwala and Justice P.D. Audikesavalu told senior counsel Mukul Rohatgi and Abhishek Manu Singhvi, representing the petitioners, that they would prefer to take up the writ petitions for final hearing anytime rather than hearing the matter for the purpose of interim relief since the arguments would be identical.
After giving an overview of the case to the judges, Mr. Rohatgi and Mr. Singhvi pressed for interim orders on the ground that the online gaming companies were suffering everyday and were facing the threat of coercive criminal action despite the Supreme Court having held categorically that rummy and poker were games of skill.
