Tamil Nadu government to table fresh Bill against online gambling

Law Minister S. Regupathy said, “The Governor has said the House does not have legislative competence. We will say it has the legislative competence and would send it [back to him].”

A day after Governor R.N. Ravi returned the Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Online Gambling and Regulation of Online Games Bill, adopted by the Assembly last year, a Cabinet meeting, chaired by Chief Minister M.K. Stalin at the Secretariat on Thursday, decided to table a second Bill, reiterating the government’s decision to impose the ban.

Briefing journalists after the Cabinet meeting, Law Minister S. Regupathy said, “The Governor has said the House does not have legislative competence. We will say it has the legislative competence and would send it [back to him].” After the Bill was tabled in the House, if any fresh inputs were received from legislators, they would be incorporated, the Minister said.

Asked if it was possible for Tamil Nadu alone to impose a ban on online gambling when it was allowed in the rest of the country, Mr. Regupathy said, “It has to be banned across the country. Tamil Nadu would like to be a pioneer in imposing a ban. Once we ban, other States could take Tamil Nadu as a role model and follow suit.”

Asked what would the State government do if the Governor delayed his assent to the second Bill, too, as he did for forwarding to the President the Bill seeking exemption from NEET, the Minister said, “We will send it for the second time and if he sat on it, we will see what we can do.”

Replying to a query, Mr. Regupathy pointed out, “When the Bill is sent for the second time, there are no provisions whatsoever for the Governor to return it. We will say the legislation was brought in by List 34 in the State List [in the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution] and your [the Governor] citing List 33 is not right. And hence the Bill should be accepted.”

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