Lottery: Kerala Files Review Plea in SC

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ( KERALA ): The Kerala Government has filed a review petition on the recent Supreme Court order directing it not to restrain the sale of Sikkim Lotteries in the state.

The July 16 order by a three-member Bench led by Justice H L Dattu barred the state from passing restraints against the “organising, conduct and promotion’’ of Sikkim Lotteries in the state.

The verdict came on an appeal petition filed by the state against the HC order quashing a show-cause notice issued by the Commercial Taxes assistant commissioner in Palakkad against A John Kennedy.

The review petition, filed on August 16, cited some errors in the apex court judgment, the main being the ‘awkwardness’ in directing the state to consider Kennedy’s application though he is not a registered agent of the Sikkim Government.

Sources in the Taxes Department said the previous LDF Government granted permission to Kennedy in violation of the law as he was not a direct agent of the Sikkim Government. “Santiago Martin was the registered agent of the Sikkim Government and Kennedy was his sub-agent. But the High Court didn’t consider this argument as the LDF Government had already collected advance tax from Kennedy,’’ they said. The government feels that a similar issue would arise in future if a clarification is not obtained through a review petition.

Meanwhile, the Kerala High Court would soon consider a petition by Santiago Martin seeking permission for the sale of Nagaland Lotteries in the state.

The case, originally filed in the Gauhati High Court, was transferred to the Kerala court when the state cited that the Gauhati court was not entitled to hear the petition.

Martin approached the Gauhati court after the Kerala Sales Tax Department rejected his application in December 2013. The department cited that the agreement between Martin’s company, Future Gaming Solutions, and the  Nagaland Government was against the Central and State Lottery Acts.

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