JOHN KENNEDY A Vs. STATE OF KERALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) These Writ Appeals are filed challenging the judgment in W.P.(C) No. 25632/10. The writ Petitioner, a proprietary concern by name Megha Distributors, is the Appellant in W.A. No. 1464/10. We will refer to him hereinafter, as Megha.W.A. No. 1470/10 is filed by the seventh Respondent in the Writ Petition, the Royal Government of Bhutan, hereinafter, the Bhutan Government.W.A. No. 1519/10 is filed by the State of Kerala and its officers, who were among the other Respondents in the Writ Petition.W.A. No. 1769/10, which has come up with leave having been granted, is filed by some of the sellers of paper lottery tickets in the State of Kerala.

(2.) The Bhutan Government entered into an agreement on trade, commerce and transit with the Government of the Republic of India. In W. A. No. 88/07, a Di vision Bench of this Court held that the treaty between the Government of India and the Bhutan Government, has the status of a law just like any other legislation and the treaty was entered into between the two countries, taking into consideration, the age old ties, with a desire to strengthen it. It was unequivocally held that in terms of the said agreement and the protocol to the agreement, free trade and commerce in terms of that international agreement includes within its scope, sale of Bhutan lottery tickets in India and the sale of Indian Government or State lottery tickets in Bhutan, subject to the relevant laws, which may be in force on the territories of Bhutan and India, as the case may be. This situation, even on facts, is not disputed before us. Therefore, the Bhutan Government is entitled to sell Bhutan lottery tickets in India and such sale will be subject to the laws in force in the territories of India. Hence, the sale of Bhutan lottery tickets within the territory of the State of Kerala would be governed by the Lotteries (Regulation) Act, 1998, hereinafter referred to as the 'Central Act', the Rules framed thereunder, namely the Lotteries (Regulation) Rules, 2010, hereinafter, the 'Central Rules', the Kerala Tax on Paper Lotteries Act, 2005, for short, the 'Tax Act' and the Rules and Regulations framed thereunder and such other laws that may be applicable to sale of lotteries in the State of Kerala from time to time. This position is also not in dispute.

(3.) By Ext.P1(a), the competent authority had issued a certificate of registration to the writ Petitioner-A. John Kennedy (Megha Distributor) as a promoter under Section 7 of the Tax Act, subject to the provisions of the said Act and Rules, including those enumerated in Ext.P1(a) certificate, which is dated 7.7.2005 to be valid until cancelled. Ext.P1 application, on the basis of which ExtP1(a) certificate was issued, shows that the certification was sought for as promoter-distributor of the Sikkim and Bhutan lotteries.