STATE OF ASSAM Vs. STATE OF RAJASTHAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THESE four petitions are directed against the order dated 11.12.1995 passed by the State of Rajasthan imposing ban on the sale of Tickets of Lottery within the territory of State of Rajasthan alleged to be 'organized' by the State of Assam, Manipur, Mizoram and Nagaland. Since the controversy involved in all these four petitions is came, they are being disposed of by a common order. The facts giving rise to these four petitions lie in a narrow compass, as under: S.B. Civil Writ Petition No. 1055/1995 was filed by one Gyan Singh Gujar against the State of Rajasthan and Ors. praying for issuance of a mandamus directing the State of Rajasthan to impose a ban on Single Digit Lottery organized by the State of Rajasthan. Apart from the said petition, two other writ petitions being numbered as SB Civil Writ Petition No. 1018/1994 Girdhari Singh Bapna v. Union of India and Ors. and SB Civil Writ Petition No. 438/1995 Mahesh Jhalani v. Union of India and Ors. were also filed which have also been disposed of today. In the aforesaid petition of Gyan Singh Gurjar v. State of Rajasthan and Ors., notice was issued to the respondents to show cause as to why the petition may not be admitted and in pursuance or that notice, Mr. BP Agrawal, Advocate General had appeared on behalf of the State of Rajasthan. On 19.5.1995, when the case of Gyan Singh Gurjar was taken up by the Court, the learned Advocate General who was appearing on behalf of the State of Rajasthan made a statement that Single Digit Lottery organized by the State of Rajasthan has been banned by the State Government w.e.f. 1.4.1995. In support of his statement, he referred to a Gazette Speech delivered by the Hon'ble Chief Minister of Rajasthan in para 186 of his Gazette Speech while presenting the budget for the year 1995 -96, which runs as under - - .........[vernacular ommited text]...........

(2.) IN view of the above Speech of the Hon'ble Chief Minister of Rajasthan, learned Advocate General urged that SBCW No. 1055/95 Gyan Singh Gurjar v. State and Ors. has become infructuous and the same was dismissed by this Court as having become infructuous. In the case of Girdhari Singh Bapna v. Union of India and Ors. SBCW No. 1018/94 and Mahesh Jhalani v.Union of India and Ors. (SBCW No. 438/95) prayers were made for issuance of directions to the Union of India not to allow the sale of lottery tickets within the territory of the State of Rajasthan either 'organized' by the State of Rajasthan or by the other States. In view of the said fact, the learned Advocate General was asked to inform the Court about the sale of lottery tickets other than the lotteries of Single Digit organized by the State of Rajasthan.

(3.) A preliminary objection has been raised on behalf of the respondent -State of Rajasthan regarding maintainability of writ petitions on the ground that the jurisdiction of this Court is barred under Article 131 of the Constitution of India. However, for deciding the preliminary issues raised by Mr. B.P. Agrawal, Advocate General appearing for State of Rajasthan the Court directed that the matter shall be heard on the preliminary objection as well as on merits and shall be disposed of finally at the admission stage itself to which the learned counsel for the parties agreed.