The government will move the Division Bench of the High Court on Monday against a Single Bench order that restrained the State from interfering with the marketing and sale of lottery tickets of the State of Nagaland.
The government will file appeal on Monday and utilise the services of senior lawyers to present its stance, Finance Minister T.M. Thomas Isaac told a press conference on Thursday.
Justice A. Muhamed Mustaque passed the order on Wednesday after declaring ultra vires the amended Kerala Paper Lotteries (Regulation) Rules that control the lotteries organised by other States.
‘Lottery mafia’
The Minister said the government would resist the move of the ‘lottery mafia’ to sell other States’ lottery here.
After the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST), lottery has been defined as a commodity. The Centre collects GST for lottery and the State gets a share. The ‘lottery mafia’ secures registration from the Central GST Department. The State GST Department will probe whether they are following SGST rules along with the Central norms, he added.
Commenting on the High Court order, Dr. Isaac said the court had cancelled only the added portion to the Paper Lottery Act. The government would seek the help of all, including trade unions, to check the sale of other State lotteries in Kerala.
‘Looting by middlemen’
The Minister said the Kerala Lottery would be made attractive in such a way that the ‘mafia’ would not be able to compete with it. The government would not allow looting by middlemen in the sector. The Minister said it was the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) that was supporting the ‘lottery mafia.’ The unification of double tax by the GST Council was helping the mafia thrive.
The court held that the Union government had framed Lotteries (Regulation) Rules, 2010. The Union government alone had the power to interfere with the organising, conduct, and promotion of lotteries and the State government did not have such power, the Single Bench held.
