Jan Vishwas Act Amends Provisions Of The IT Act

– NOVEMBER 31, 2023

The Central Government notified The Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Act, 2023 (‘Jan Viswas Act’). The Jan Viswas Act has brought in following changes to the provisions of the Information Technology Act, 2000 (‘IT Act’) with effect from November 31, 2023:

1. An intermediary will be fined INR 1 Crore and/or a jail term of 1 year if it does not provide technical assistance to any authorised government agency for monitoring data traffic for cyber security purposes (Section 69B).
2. Penalty for non-compliance with any order and/or direction of CERT-IN is increased from INR 1 Lakh to INR 1 Crore (Section 70B).
3. Penalty for sending ‘offensive’ messages through any communication device has been removed (Section 66A) in light of the Supreme Court decision in the case of Shreya Singhal vs. Union of India striking down the provision as being unconstitutional.
4. If any person discloses information to any 3^rd party without obtaining prior consent from such person shall be subject to penalty of INR 25 Lakhs (Section 72).
5. If any person or intermediary, in furtherance to providing services pursuant to a contract, discloses information to any 3rd party without obtaining prior consent from such person and/or violation of the contract with an intent to cause wrongful gain or wrongful loss shall be subject to penalty of INR 25 Lakhs (Section 72A).
6. If any intermediary does not preserve and/or retain information specified by the central government for the required duration and in the required manner and format will be liable to a penalty of up to INR 25 lakhs (Section 67C).