Southern States - Tamil Nadu   

HC allows lottery ticket sale for one week

By A. Subramani

CHENNAI JAN. 14. Coming to the rescue of those having stakes in the already announced lottery schemes, the Madras High Court today permitted sale of all lottery tickets including that of other States — which are duly certified and accounted for — in the State for a limited period of one week.

"The sale of such certified lottery tickets shall be completed within one week from today. Thereafter, the authorities, under the rules framed by the Government, shall conduct the draws (for the already announced schemes)," the First Bench, comprising the Chief Justice, B. Subhashan Reddy, and Justice Malai. Subramanian, said, disposing of a batch of interlocutory petitions seeking to stay the operation of the January 8 order prohibiting sale of all lotteries in Tamil Nadu.

"We prima facie hold that the State Government has power to issue the impugned order (banning lotteries organised, conducted and promoted by itself as well as other States)," the Bench said citing a relevant Supreme Court order.

However, the State prohibition can operate only prospectively from January 9. As the ban was on sale of tickets, any sale made up to January 8 cannot be nullified and the sold tickets conferred a vested right on the persons who had obtained certificates from the Commercial Tax Officer (CTO) concerned on the deposit of the advance sales tax as per Section 7-D of the Tamil Nadu General Sales Tax Act.

Stating that there was no prohibition in the TN Lotteries (Regulation) Act to impose a ban on the draw of lottery tickets, the First Bench said the petitioner-agents were entitled for the draw of lotteries for which the CTO certification had been obtained. "Only such certified tickets with the enumerated numbers can be sold by the petitioners."

'Cannot be permitted'

Earlier, the Advocate-General of Tamil Nadu, N.R. Chandran, argued that the grievances of the petitioner-agents were only consequences of decisions. "Consequences can never affect the decisions of a State," he submitted. If the Government permitted its own lotteries to be sold in Tamil Nadu, then it had to necessarily permit other State lotteries also.

"Otherwise, they will move the court."

Representing one of the petitioner-agents, senior counsel and former Union Minister, P. Chidambaram, while welcoming the ban, argued that more than 50 draws had been scheduled to be held before February 16. The Government must make some arrangement for those ``pipeline lotteries.''

Another senior counsel, G. Masilamani, said denial of prize money to the sold lotteries would amount to criminal breach of trust.

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