The Tamil Nadu government moved the Supreme Court against the Madras High Court (MHC) order that struck down certain amendments introduced by the Tamil Nadu Gaming and Police Laws (Amendment) Act, 2021, as unconstitutional in the matter of Junglee Games India Pvt. Ltd. & Anr. v The State of Tamil Nadu & Ors,

The appeal filed today was assigned a diary number and is pending the final registration number. In September, we reported on the government decision to appeal the MHC order instead of bringing a new law. The law minister S. Raghupathi responding to queries from journalists in September said a new bill is not tabled as the government decided to approach the Supreme Court.

The MHC noted that the challenged amendment was capricious, irrational, excessive, and disproportionate. In an order dated 3rd August 2021, the first bench of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy observed that the doctrine of severability is also not applicable since the amended definition of gaming runs throughout the Act, concluding that the amending Act is disproportionate to the object and ultra vires the Constitution.

The Supreme Court collegium has since transferred Chief Justice Banerjee to Meghalaya High Court and the transfer is yet to be notified. The transfer decision raised questions and anguish from members of the Madras bar with nearly 200 members writing to the collegium members.

Ever since the order, opposition parties have been demanding the government to enact another law or file an appeal. AIADMK leader and Former Law Minister C Ve Shanmugam had urged the DMK Government to approach the Supreme Court and obtain an interim stay. Mr. Shanmugam was the law minister when the amendment was enacted.

“Soon after the judgment was delivered, the Chief Minister has advised for passing another law to ban online rummy by specifically mentioning the rules in this regard and also by specifically mentioning the reasons for the ban, in view of the welfare of the general public,” S. Regupathy was quoted on the day the judgement was passed.

This is a developing story. Details to be updated.