TN hopeful of Guv's assent to Bill banning online Rummy, BJP targets DMK regime

He and officials gave explanations to points raised by the Governor in respect of that Bill pending with him for his assent, the Minister said. Ravi apprised the Minister that the Bill was under his consideration and he would take a decision soon on giving assent to it.

Chennai:Governor R N Ravi has conveyed to him that a decision would soon be taken on giving assent to the Bill banning online card games, Rummy and Poker, Tamil Nadu Law Minister S Regupathy said here on Thursday. After calling on Ravi at the Raj Bhavan here, Regupathy told reporters that a discussion was held on the Bill on ban and regulation of online card games like Rummy and Poker.

He and officials gave explanations to points raised by the Governor in respect of that Bill pending with him for his assent, the Minister said. Ravi apprised the Minister that the Bill was under his consideration and he would take a decision soon on giving assent to it. The Governor wanted this to be conveyed to Chief Minister M K Stalin. Already the government has answered questions raised by Raj Bhavan on the Bill, Regupathy recalled.

The Minister, alongwith Home and Law secretaries of the government called on Ravi. Answering a question, Regupathy said that there is no difference between the ordinance and the Bill passed by the Assembly. The Governor was told that at the time of promulgation of the ordinance that banned online rummy, the number of those who ended their lives due to the card game following loss of money was 17 and it has increased to 25, Regupathy said.
In a short span of time, 25 lives have been lost and the online card games should be banned, he said.

Following the ordinance, the Assembly passed a Bill to replace it and it was sent to Raj Bhavan for the Governor's assent. When it was under consideration for Governor's assent, the ordinance lapsed days ago. The Minister said that there is a huge difference between online and offline card games and the former is programmed to lure players with lucrative offers and many people end up losing money and several of them end their lives, which seriously affect their families. So far, 21 Bills are pending with Governor for his assent, he said.

While the Tamil Nadu BJP targeted the DMK regime again on this issue and asked if there was any use in promulgating an ordinance without issuing a Government Order (GO) correspondingly to implement it, the Minister said that after the issuance of ordinance, it was notified in the Gazette.
A GO was not issued as the Assembly session was convened and the government was for tabling a Bill to replace the ordinance and the task was completed. Then the Bill was sent to Governor for his assent.

In a tweet, BJP Tamil Nadu unit chief K Annamalai slammed the DMK regime, alleging ineptitude for not implementing the ordinance and wanted the State government to own up responsibility for those who lost their lives after losing money in online games. The ordinance (prohibiting online gambling, wager-based online games of chance of Rummy and Poker) was promulgated by Governor Ravi on October 1, 2022 and the gazette notification was made by the government on October 3. The Assembly met on October 17 for a brief session and the Bill was passed.

The adoption of the Bill was necessitated after the Madras High Court had struck down on August 3, 2021 the provisions of the Tamil Nadu Gaming and Police Laws (Amendment) Act 2021 which banned wager or placing bet in cyber space. Such provisions were held by the High Court as ultra vires, the Constitution. The court had said that an appropriate legislation may be passed by the government conforming to the Constitutional sense of propriety in the field of betting and gambling.

According to Article 213 [2] (a) of the Constitution, an ordinance shall cease to be in force following expiration of six weeks from the reassembly of the Legislature. Accordingly, the ordinance lapsed during November last week. (PTI)