Lottery: plea for CBI probe

March 01, 2011 08:54 pm | Updated 08:54 pm IST - Kochi:

Congress MLA V.D. Satheesan on Tuesday filed a writ petition in the Kerala High Court seeking a CBI probe into the irregularities indulged in by the promoters of Bhuttan lotteries in the State.

In the petition, Mr. Satheesan sought a directive to the State government to make a request under the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act for issuing an order for a probe into the illegal conduct of lotteries of other States. He said that in a report submitted to the State government, the Vigilance had pointed out various irregularities committed by the promoters of other State lotteries.

The Vigilance had recommended prohibition of the sale of the Bhutan and Sikkim lotteries in the State. No action had been taken by the State government on the basis of the Vigilance report submitted in 2006.

In fact, the State government failed to mention about the Vigilance report in its various correspondences with the Central government over the issue. The attempt by the State government to seek a CBI probe was eyewash.

In fact, the letters written by the State government to the Central government for a CBI probe did not mention the illegalities in the sale of lottery tickets of other States.

He said the State government and the Opposition had requested the Centre for a CBI probe into the violations of the lottery rules by the promoters of the Bhutan and Sikkim lotteries. The CBI alone could conduct a probe into the allegations of the illegalities.

University polls

A Bench of Chief Justice J. Chelameswar and Justice Antony Dominic allowed the University of Kerala to conduct elections to the Syndicate. However, it directed not to publish the results and keep them in a sealed cover.

The court issued the directive on an appeal filed by Jyothi Kumar and another Senate member. The appeal was filed against an interim order of the single judge that the elections shall be subject to the result of a writ petition against the elections.

According to the petitioners, the election notification was issued not in accordance with the statutes of the university. The electoral rolls had not been published properly, they alleged.

Cost imposed

Dismissing a petition, the same Bench imposed a cost of Rs.25,000 on K.K. Ramachandran of Palakkad for suppressing and misleading the court in a case relating to the default in payment of loan taken from the Kerala Financial Corporation.

The Bench imposed the cost while dismissing a petition filed by him seeking a declaration that he was entitled to get the concessions offered earlier by the corporation regarding the outstanding dues.

The court also disposed of a writ petition filed by the corporation seeking police protection against Mr. Ramachandran's interference with the efforts to take over the shopping complex for which he had taken the loan.

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