Bhubaneswar: The Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, has sought information from the State Government whether it has repealed the pre-independence era Public Gambling Act, 1867 or not.
MHA Joint Secretary G Parthasarathi has recently written a letter to Chief Secretary Pradeep Kumar Jena in this regard.
“It was requested to take immediate steps to repeal the Public Gambling Act, 1867 and enact a new law for regulation of public gambling in your State. It was also requested that if such an action has already been taken, then the details of State law/regulation may be sent to this Ministry,” Shri Parthasarathi said in his letter.
He urged Shri Jena to kindly look into the matter and to send the requisite information expeditiously.
Prior to this letter, the then MHA Secretary Ajay Bhalla had issued instructions to the State Government in November last year.
In that communication, Shri Bhalla said that the Public Gambling Act, 1867 is an archaic, pre-independence Act and subject matter now comes under the State List, as betting and gambling’ at entry no. 34 in List II of Schedule VII to the Constitution.
The Law Commission of India in its 248th Report of November 2014 has observed that as per Article 372(1), if the subject- matter of a pre-constitutional law falls into the State List, the State Government is the competent legislature to repeal that Act.
Further, he mentioned Supreme Court order in Kerala State Electricity Board vs The Indian Aluminium Co. Ltd. stated that “After the Constitution came into force an existing law could be amended if repealed only by the legislature which would be competent to enact that law if it were to be newly enacted.”
After receiving the letters from the MHA, the Law Department has informed the Home Department that the State has already enacted its own Law titled as The Odisha (Prevention of) Gambling Act, 1955.
This Act was enacted to provide punishment of gambling and to secure the ultimate prevention of gambling. The Home Department was asked to share the Act with the MHA for its use.
