Notice to state govt on online betting

BENGALURU: The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday issued notice to the state government on a public interest litigation questioning permission granted to the Bangalore Turf Club Limited (BTC) to conduct online betting.Hearing the petition filed by C Gopal, a resident of Shanthinagar in the city, a division bench of Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice S Vishwajith Shetty also ordered the state government to submit its response. 

Petitioner’s counsel H V Praveen Gowda stated that the Chief Minister on June 29, 2020 approved the finance department’s proposal in response to Turf Club’s request without analysing its damage on society.
If online betting is opened, many families will be on the streets, he added.

Why free, talking laptops not distributed: HC
Bengaluru: Acting on a PIL seeking directions to the state government to implement its announcement to distribute talking laptops to visually impaired students free of cost, the Karnataka High Court on Tuesday issued notice to the state government. A division bench comprising Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice S Vishwajith Shetty issued the notice after hearing the petition filed by S Umapathi, a city-based advocate.

The petitioner stated that the government was releasing `4 crore every year and the grant was reduced eventually. Initially, authorities distributed laptops for academic years 2014-17. But the laptops are yet to be distributed to students for the academic years 2018-19 and 2019-20, though `3.50 crore and `2.41 crore were released respectively, by the government, he said.