The Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Online Gambling and Regulation of Online Games Act, 2022, is intra vires (within the legal powers) the legislative competence conferred on the State legislature by the Constitution and not ultra vires as contended by All India Gaming Federation and others, the State government has asserted before the Madras High Court.
Filing an exhaustive counter-affidavit through Advocate-General R. Shunmugasundaram, the government said the 2022 law was enacted in valid exercise of the powers conferred upon the State legislature under Articles 245 (power to make laws for the whole or part of a State) and 246 (power to enact laws on any of the subjects in the State list) of the Constitution.
The government denied the charge that the Act purported to apply extra territorially or that it would produce legal effects beyond the territory of Tamil Nadu. It said the law would be valid as long as it passed the test of territorial nexus by proving that the connection between what was sought to be achieved and the territory of the State was real and not illusory.
