The Tamil Nadu government has been questioned by PMK President Anbumani Ramadoss on why the Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Online Gambling Ordinance has not yet been implemented.
The TN government has notified the Madras High Court (HC) that although the ordinance to ban online gambling in Tamil Nadu was published in the gazette last month, it has not yet been implemented till today, according to a statement released by PMK president Anbumani Ramadoss.
“It is a great mystery that the ordinance enacted with the aim of preventing the degradation of the people of Tamil Nadu has not been implemented till date. The cases filed against the Prohibition of Online Gambling Ordinance passed in TN came up for hearing before the first session of the Madras HC yesterday,” said Ramadoss.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, who represented the TN government at the time, stated that although the ordinance had been gazetted, it had not yet been enacted. Online gaming businesses are not seen as criminals as a result. The TN Government claims that no action has been taken against them.
An ordinance serves to ensure that crime prevention does not have to wait until the Legislature convenes to pass a law. The TN Cabinet assembled on September 26 and passed the Online Gambling Prohibition Ordinance.
Ramadoss argued that 47 days have passed and the ordinance has not yet been implemented. In the meantime, a draft law was presented and approved as an alternative to the emergency law during the legislative session.
Ramadoss also said that since the gambling prohibition ordinance has not yet been implemented gambling companies will now start conducting their operations without any restrictions. He reminded how harmful online gambling was proved to be earlier and how a number of families were destroyed as a result of partaking in it.
According to the PMK leader, these games were a bad influence on the youth of the state and many were now in huge debt due to playing these games.
“It is unfair for the TN government to not have put the ordinance into effect yet given that the government has accepted that internet gambling is a serious societal ill, it was addressed three times in the cabinet meeting, and it was passed a month and a half ago,” Ramadoss added.
Pressing on this matter, Ramadoss insisted that to achieve the goals for which it was enacted, the Tamil Nadu government should begin enforcing the Prohibition of Online Gambling Ordinance right away. In addition to it, he has asked that the Legislative Assembly’s ban on online gambling be quickly implemented after receiving the Governor’s assent.