Kerala not to go on appeal in lottery case: Minister

Says there was no lapse in conducting the case

July 30, 2014 10:54 pm | Updated November 16, 2021 05:31 pm IST - THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:

The government will not go on appeal against the Supreme Court order in the lottery case, Finance Minister K.M. Mani has said.

Mr. Mani told reporters here on Wednesday that the July 16 Supreme Court order was only a reminder to the government that it should observe all legal formalities if John Kennedy, who secured the order, sought permission for distributing lottery tickets of other States in Kerala. There was no lapse on the part of the government in conducting the case.

As per the Kerala Tax on Paper Lotteries Act, 2005, the government should examine all aspects before granting permission and the Lottery Director should issue a no-objection certificate to applicants for distribution.

All legal procedures would be observed before granting permission. Eligibility of the distributor was a key factor, he said.

Mr. Mani said Kennedy was not the authorised distributor of any State. As per the rules, either a State government or a distributor authorised by the government alone could seek lottery registration in another State. Though the State government had been getting several applications in this score during the past three years, all these had been rejected after due consideration. None of the States had approached the court but the distributors had filed the cases.

Mr. Mani rejected Opposition Leader V.S. Achuthanandan’s statement that the UDF government was abetting the lottery lobby.

“It was unfortunate. While opposing the mafia in words, he had been helping them through his deeds.” When Mr. Achuthanandan was the Chief Minister he had spent Rs.1.60 crore in two months for conducting the case against the lottery lobby.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.