The Hindu : Huge ST default by online lottery firms: VS

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Mar 09, 2004

Kerala

Kerala

Huge ST default by online lottery firms: VS

By Our Special Correspondent

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, MARCH 8. The Leader of the Opposition, V. S. Achuthanandan, has accused online lottery companies of having defaulted on payment of Rs. 5,700 crores in Sales Tax with the active connivance of Government top brass, the office of the Advocate General and Government Pleaders.

Mr. Achuthanandan told a news conference here today that a single online lottery company had defaulted on payment of Sales Tax totalling Rs. 895 crores with the Government Pleader handling the case allegedly colluding with the company. The company had approached the Kerala High Court against the Government demand that it pay Rs. 895 crores in Sales Tax. Normally, Courts would insist on payment of at least a portion of the defaulted amount. However, the Government Pleader handling the case, Raju Joseph, unilaterally took the position that the company need make the payment only sometime later. The Pleader could not have done so without of the support of the Government, the Leader of the Opposition said. Mr. Achuthanandan pointed out that the stay on the operation of the Government ban on online lotteries in the State was still in force as the Government had done thing to get it vacated. The High Court had stayed the Government order on December 19 and the case had so far been postponed nine times resulting in allegations that there was a game behind such repeated postponement. The grant of stay on the Government order itself had generated some controversy and there an allegation that the stay was granted as the Additional Advocate General had not handled the case well. Although the Taxes Secretary had proposed on January 13 that the case should be handled by the Advocate General, there were complaints that a lawyer's office in which the Advocate General had stakes was handling several cases of the online lottery companies.

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