The Supreme Court has dismissed a petition to review its decision to allow states to impose tax on lotteries of other states in the pre-goods and services tax (GST) era after two significant judgments passed by the High Courts of Kerala and Karnataka.
The apex court had earlier set aside orders by division benches of the High Courts of Kerala and Karnataka to not permit respective state legislatures to impose a tax on the lotteries conducted by other states, say Sikkim. A bench comprising of Mrs. Justice B.V. Nagarathna and Mr. Justice M. R. Shah was considering the appeals filed by the State of Karnataka and State of Kerala and others against the judgments of the jurisdictional High Courts.
Earlier, the two High Courts had said that the respective state legislatures had no right to do so. According to the High Courts, taxation contemplated under Entry 62 of list II of the Constitution is on betting and gambling activities which also includes lotteries, irrespective of entities conducting the same. After the Supreme Court verdict, the Karnataka Tax on Lotteries Act, 2004 and Kerala Tax on Paper Lotteries Act, 2005 were declared valid.
Now, while considering the review petition, the Apex Court observed that there was no error apparent on face of record to reconsider the impugned order.
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