You will now face a seven year jail term or Rs 100 crore fine if you prepare an erroneous map of India, says the draft of “The Geospatial Information Regulation Bill, 2016”.

The bill is to regulate the acquisition, dissemination, publication and distribution of geospatial information of India which is likely to affect the “security, sovereignty and integrity of India”.

The draft says that “save as otherwise provided in this Act, rules or regulations made thereunder, or with the general or special permission of the Security Vetting Authority, no person shall acquire geospatial imagery or data including value addition of any part of India either through any space or aerial platforms such as satellite, aircrafts, airships, balloons, unmanned aerial vehicles or terrestrial vehicles, or any other means whatsoever”.

On penalty for illegal acquisition of geospatial information of India, the draft clearly says that whoever acquires any geospatial information of India in contravention of the law, “shall be punished with a fine ranging from Rupees one crore to Rupees one hundred crore and/or imprisonment for a period upto seven years”.


Read complete draft of the bill