The Kerala High Court on Monday suppressed an amendment to a government notification issued under Section 14A of the Kerala Gaming Act, 1960 restricting online rummy in the State, carrying immense help to the online skill gaming industry.

Justice TR Ravi noticed that the notification was arbitrary and violative of the right to trade and commerce ensured under Article 19(1)(g) of the Constitution and the right to equality ensured under Article 14 of the Constitution.

Four online rummy organizations had moved toward the Court challenging the upbraided notification recently. The Court has been hearing the arguments in the matter for over two months. This comes after the State issued a notification dated 23rd February 2021 explaining that online rummy does not enjoy exclusion from the general prohibition of gaming and gambling allowed under Section 14A of the Kerala Gaming Act, 1960 when played for stakes.

Senior Advocates Mukul Rohatgi and Joseph Kodianthara and Advocates Santhosh Mathew and Thomas Kuruvilla showing up on the behalf of four online rummy organizations had argued that the state government couldn’t boycott rummy, which was a game of skill through a simple notification under Section 14A of the Kerala Gaming Act, 1960, and that the restriction on online rummy while permitting actual rummy was arbitrary.

The petitioners depended on the judgments of the Supreme Court in State of Andhra Pradesh v K Satyanarayana and Ors and KR Lakshmanan v. Territory of Tamil Nadu and Ors. where it was held that rummy is a game of skill.

They further battled that the prohibition on online rummy played for stakes, which was a perceived game including skill goes with different Supreme Court and High Court decisions.

It was additionally contended that the notification, which gives the state government ability to explain the rundown of skill-based games, rather than boycotts online rummy, accordingly abusing their right to trade and commerce ensured under Article 19(1)(g) of the Constitution.

Advocate N. Manoj Kumar on the other hand that playing online rummy for stakes was causing different social issues, including suicides and loss of hard-earned savings.

He further expressed that a division bench of the High Court had governed in K Ramchandran v. The Circle Inspector of Police that rummy played for stakes would add up to gambling and be illegal. He further brought to the consideration of the court that a review petition filed by three online rummy organizations against the order was additionally dismissed by an order for the division bench of the High Court.

The decision of the Court is the second to help the online real money gaming industry after it got a comparable order from the Madras High Court last month that struck down a law passed by the Tamil Nadu government restricting a wide range of online games, including skill-based games like poker and rummy, played for stakes.

Credits: Live Law.in