The Hindu : `Meghalaya violating Lotteries Act'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Jan 17, 2004

Kerala

Kerala

`Meghalaya violating Lotteries Act'

By Our Staff Reporter

KOCHI, JAN. 16. The State Government today informed a Division Bench of the Kerala High Court that the Meghalaya Government was running lotteries in Kerala in violation of the Lotteries Regulation Act.

In an affidavit filed in response to a writ appeal filed against a single judge verdict upholding Section 24 of the Kerala State Lotteries and Online Lotteries (Regulation Rules) 2003, the Director of Lotteries, K. Suresh Kumar, submitted that while Section 4(h) of the Act allowed the organisers of lotteries to conduct draws only once in a week, as many as 15 draws were conducted in a single day by the Meghalaya Governmrent. Besides, the ticket issued from online counters did not have the signature of the Director of the Meghalaya Lotteries. Besides, one of their lotteries was a single digit one. The affidavit said a good part of the revenue from the lotteries was being siphoned off by middlemen and some 5-10 per cent of it reached the Meghalaya Government. The provisions of the Rules did not ban or prohibit any lotteries.

Petition dismissed

A Bench comprising the Chief Justice, J.L. Gupta, and Justice N. K. Sodhi dismissed a writ petition filed against the decision of the Central Board of Direct Taxes to entrust the printing of permanent account number cards to the Unit Trust of India Investors Service Ltd. The petition was field by K.C. Joseph Varghese, Chartered Accountants. It had been decided to entrust the printing of the card with the company with effect from January 1, 2003.

Directive to UGC

Justice C.N. Ramachandran Nair has directed the University Grants Commission (UGC) to consider a petition of the St. Thomas College, Pala, seeking financial assistance under the UGC scheme for colleges with Potential for Excellence.

The direction came on a writ petition filed by the Principal of the college challenging the selection of as many as 11 colleges for the grant

Upholds order

A Bench upheld an order of the Ombudsman for Local Self-Government Institutions directing the Kadungaloor panchayat to recover Rs. 26 lakhs for unauthorisedly constructing a culvert. The court upheld the order while dismissing a writ petition filed by the panchayat president against the Ombudsman's order.

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