Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Friday allowed two weeks time to Maharashtra government to file its reply to a public interest litigation demanding that a four- decade-old law which makes it legal to run casinos in the state be brought into force.
A bench, headed by Justice V M Kanade, asked the state government to take a stand on the issue within a fortnight and inform the court whether it intends to implement this law.
According to the petitioner, Jay Satya, a law student, the Maharashtra Casinos (Control and Tax) Act was passed by the Assembly and published in the government gazette in July 1976. However, it has not been notified yet.
Satya found out through the Right to Information that the Act received the Governor's assent on July 22, 1976. Last December, he wrote a letter to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis requesting him to notify it but there was no reply.
The Act provides for licensing of casinos, permitting certain types of casino games, taxation of the money paid or agreed to be paid by the participants by way of stakes or bets, etc.
Goa and Sikkim are the only two states which currently allow casinos, the PIL says, alleging that government of Maharashtra has "arbitrarily and unreasonably" kept in abeyance the Act by not notifying it.
