After 3 years and 8 months, the Union IT ministry has unblocked Gamban, a UK-based app that restricts gambling sites and apps for people recovering from gambling addiction. Gamban’s website was blocked in India, while the app was inaccessible on app stores.

The Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) had blocked the app from Google Playstore and Apple Playstore and its website under Section 69A of the Information Technology (IT) Act since February 7, 2023. MeitY communicated its decision to Gamban on November 2, via e-mail, according to Jay Sayta, one of Gamban’s advocates who represented Gamban at Delhi HC and at the Inter-ministerial committee hearing. 

Earlier in September this year, the Delhi High Court asked MeitY to decide on the blocking order within four weeks. Gamban has welcomed the unblocking of the website and thanked the Indian government in an X post.

We would like to thank the Government of India for recognising that Gamban should be accessible in the country and we look forward to engaging and working with them in the fight against illicit gambling and addiction.

Huge thanks also to Gamban's legal team in India comprising…

— Gamban (@gambanapp) November 2, 2026

Section 69A orders are almost never reversed: In August 2022, MediaNama noted that not a single Section 69A blocking order issued by the government has been revoked by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology’s (MeitY) Review Committee since 2009. This was from an RTI filled by investigative journalist Saurav Das who is the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) spokesperson now.

Jay Sayta also described unblocking under Section 69A a rare case, saying he has “seen very less unblocking,” and that this outcome is “one of the few examples where a High Court order to consider the representation of the aggrieved party has actually led to unblocking.” 

A 2021 report by MediaNama reveals that MeitY treats Section 69A orders as strictly confidential and on that can’t be disclosed. Jay Sayta also specified that MeitY hasn’t shared the blocking order with them. 

Apple is yet to unblock: Internet service providers (ISPs) appear to have already unblocked the website which remains accessible on both Airtel and Jio networks. Jay Sayta said that Gamban will send the ministry’s decision to both app store intermediaries (Google and Apple) and ask them to act. Within a few hours of our call with him, the app became accessible on Google Play Store. However, it remains inaccessible on Apple’s App store.

While the Blocking Rules require an intermediary to acknowledge a blocking direction “within two hours on receipt of the direction” under the Rule 13(2), Jay Sayta noted they set no deadline for acting in an unblocking direction.

“It is probably a matter of time before they restore access,” Sayta said. 

What happened at the inter-ministerial hearing: 

In an interview with MediaNama, Advocate Jay Sayta explained what happened at the Inter-ministerial hearing on October 14.

After Delhi HC directed MeitY to decide on Gamban’s petition within weeks, it wrote to the ministry seeking a hearing, revealed Jay Sayta. According to him, MeitY informed Gamban on October 13 that an inter-ministerial committee would meet on October 14 and invited written and oral submissions via online conference.

“We submitted our written representation. And, I personally attended and represented Gamban at the hearing,” Jay Sayta said. Gamban’s representatives also joined him to answer technical questions, if the Committee had any, he added.  

Sayta described the meeting as “cordial,” noting that the officers heard them patiently and raised their concerns, which the company addressed.

He further revealed that MeitY raised two main concerns, which also echoes the allegations in MeitY’s May 6, 2025 email to Gamban:

  • whether the app collects financial or other sensitive user data and 
  • whether uninstalling it increases the gambling ads a user sees. 

Gamban’s reply, as Jay described it, was that the app reads only the address bar to match a URL against its list of gambling domains. It takes no other data and shares none with third parties. The company also submitted an International Organization for Standardization (ISO) certificate on privacy. 

After 14 days of the initial hearing, the inter-ministerial committee held another meeting on October 28 where it had recommended the unblocking of Gamban website and thereby directed the concerned intermediary app stores to unblock the app. The same was communicated to Gamban via e-mail by MietY’s Section 69A cell. 

Beyond this, what happened at the Committee was not disclosed as the Rule 16 of the blocking Rules mandates the “Strict confidentiality shall be maintained regarding all the requests and complaints received and actions taken thereof.” 

Who sat on the Inter-Ministerial committee: 

According to the Rule 7 of the Information Technology (Procedure and Safeguards for Blocking for Access of Information by Public) Rules, 2009, the committee’s composition should be:

  • The Designated Officer, appointed by MietY, as the chairperson of the committee,
  • A representative of the Ministry of Law and Justice
  • A representative of the Ministry of Home Affairs
  • A representative of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting
  • A representative of the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In)

“The request alongwith the printed sample content of the alleged offending information or part thereof shall be examined by a committee consisting of the Designated Officer as its chairperson and representatives, not below the rank of Joint Secretary in Ministries of Law and Justice, Home Affairs, Information and Broadcasting and the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team appointed under sub-section (1) of section 70B of the Act.” – Rule 7 of Blocking Rules

Sayta told MediaNama that representatives of the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), the nodal agency for the complaint, were also present. For context, during the court proceedings, MeitY’s counsel had told the Delhi HC that I4C was the nodal agency that issued the blocking order against Gamban.  

According to MeitY’s October 2025’s notification, Sushil Pal, the Joint Secretary of MeitY, and Akil Kumar, the Managing Director/ Chief Executive Officer, Digital India Corporation were appointed as the Designated Officers, while S Krishnan is the current MeitY Secretary. 

What is the due process after the Inter-Ministerial hearing?

The committee itself does not decide whether a site stays blocked as it only has the specific recommendation powers under the Blocking Rules’s Rule 8(4), 

Under Rule 8(5), the Designated Officer sends that recommendation, along with the details from the nodal officer to the Secretary in the Department of Information Technology. Then, the MeitY secretary takes the decision.

Rule 8(6) then splits the process in two:

  • If the Secretary approves: the Designated Officer directs the government agency or intermediary to block/unblock the information for public access, within the time limit in the direction.
  • If the Secretary does not approve: the Designated Officer informs the nodal officer that the request was not approved.

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