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Tamil Nadu's Online Rummy Law Challenged In Madras HC; Court Likely To Hear Case On 27 April

Swarajya StaffApr 26, 2023, 07:21 PM | Updated 07:21 PM IST
Online Rummy (Representative Image)

Online Rummy (Representative Image)


The Madras High Court has agreed to hear a group of cases filed by online gaming companies challenging the validity of the Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Online Gambling and Regulation of Online Games Act, 2022, which received assent from Governor RN Ravi on 10 April.

Senior Counsel Abhishek Manu Singhvi made a request for an early hearing of the cases before a bench of Justices S Vaidyanathan and R Kalaimathi as the Court would go on vacation from 1 May.

To this, the bench said that the case could be heard tomorrow (27 April) by a Division Bench of Acting Chief Justice T Raja and Justice D Bharatha Chakravarthy if the documents are ready and the Registry assigns a number.

In August 2021, the High Court struck down a similar law passed during the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) regime, stating that a blanket ban on games of skill was not appropriate.

It said that a complete ban was disproportionate.

The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) government then passed a new Bill in October 2022, which was returned to the state Assembly by Governor RN Ravi in March 2023.

In the interim, the DMK ran a campaign saying that by not giving assent to the Bill, Governor Ravi was responsible for the death of many persons who committed suicide because they incurred huge losses.

The Bill received assent from Governor Ravi after it was passed by the Assembly once again in April 2023.

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