DNA: Mumbai: Saturday, 05 September 2015.
The Bombay
High Court on Friday directed the state government to respond within four weeks
to a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking implementation of the Maharashtra
Casinos (Control and Tax) Act.
According to
petitioner Jay Satya, a law student, the Act was passed in the Legislative
Assembly in July 1976 but is yet to be notified. It provides for licensing of
casinos, permitting of certain types of casino games and taxation of money paid
or agreed to be paid by participants etc.
The petition
further stated that Satya found out through a Right to Information (RTI) appeal
that the Act received the Governor's assent on July 22, 1976. Last December,
Satya wrote a letter to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, requesting him to
notify the Act, but there was no reply.
The PIL
stated, "Goa and Sikkim are the only two states that currently allow
casinos. The government of Maharashtra has arbitrarily and unreasonably kept in
abeyance the Act by not notifying it."
Meanwhile,
even as it directed the state to reply to the petition, a division bench of
Justice V M Kanade and Justice Dr Shalini Phansalkar Joshi observed,
"Enough problems are there in the state. Why do you (petitioner) want
casinos in the state? Wouldn't it aggravate the problems?"
The
petitioner's counsel, however, argued that every person has a different point
of view and that time-bound implementation of Acts is necessary. "We agree
that the court cannot direct the state to implement the Act but it still has to
clear its stand," the counsel said.
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