HC upholds Karnataka's decision to ban lotteries
The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday upheld the state government's notification banning all forms of lottery and declaring the state as a "lottery free zone".
By PTI |
BANGALORE: The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday upheld the state government's notification banning all forms of lottery and declaring the state as a "lottery free zone".
Dismissing a batch of writ petitions filed by Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh, All India Lottery and Gaming Federation and others, challenging the March 27 notification banning lotteries, vacation bench judge Justice V Jagannathan vacated the interim stay issued on the notification by a single judge earlier.
The Judge also upheld the validity of Section 5 of the Lotteries Regulation Act and ruled the state had powers to ban lotteries.
The March 27 notification issued by the state banning all forms of lotteries, including Internet lottery, did not suffer from any constitutional infirmities and the Supreme Court has already upheld Section 5 of the Lotteries Regulation Act by which the states are empowered to declare their states as "lottery free zones", the Judge observed.
Issues like banning of lotteries, which falls under policy decision category, cannot be subjected to judicial review, the Judge said and pointed out that the decision was part of the Karnataka's 2007-08 Budget which has been debated and approved by both Houses of legislature.
The State Advocate General Uday Holla informed the Court that the government had held discussions with Lottery agents prior to banning it. The Judge also refused to grant stay on lottery ban to petitioners and dismissed them.
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