DINESH GURJAR Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS is a Letters Patent Appeal directed against judgment dated 22-1-1999 passed by the learned single Judge in W. P. No. 2495 of 1998, whereby the petition filed by the appellant has been dismissed.

(2.) IN order to dispose of this appeal, it is relevant to mention a few facts of the case. The appellant/petitioner filed writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India and prayed for a writ of mandamus restraining the respondents 2 and 3 in creating hindrance in sale of lottery tickets of the Royal Government of Bhutan in the State of Madhya Pradesh. The petitioner/appellant is the Manager of M/s Surya Enterprises, which is the distributors of lotteries of Royal Government of Bhutan. It is alleged that an agreement was entered into between the Government of India and the Government of Bhutan on 29-2-1995 on Trade and Commerce between the Royal Government of Bhutan and the Government of Republic of India. Article-I of the agreement contemplates free trade and commerce between the territories of the Kingdom of Bhutan and the Republic of India. Protocol to the agreement on Trade and Commerce further stated that for the purposes of the agreement, the term 'free Trade and Commerce' in Article-I shall be understood to include 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 in the territory of Kingdom of Bhutan and India, as the case may be.

(3.) IN pursuance of the agreement between the two nations, a protocol agreement in trade and commerce between the Government of the Kingdom of Bhutan and the Government of the Republic of India was entered into with reference to Article-I of the Agreement, which, reads as under :