Lottery Prize Can't Be Denied Just Because Winner Happens To Be Wife Of A Suspended Lottery Agent : Kerala High Court

The Kerala High Court has directed the State to disburse the first prize amount of Rs 40.95 lakh to a woman who won its 'Winwin' lottery draw. Justice PV Kunhikrishnan issued the order on the petition filed by P Shitha challenging the rejection of her claim by the lottery department, alleging it to be unsustainable for the simple reason that there was no law allowing the Government to pass such an order. The State had denied the prize amount to the winner citing that she was the wife of a suspended lottery agent involved in unlawful practices in the lottery business.The petitioner submitted that she had purchased a lottery ticket from Palakkad. When the results were published by the lottery department, the ticket purchased by the petitioner was declared the winner. Thereafter, she had submitted the original lottery ticket before the Director of State Lotteries. The claim also was made within a period of 30 days as provided under the Paper Lotteries (Regulation) Rules, 2005.However, the State refused to hand over the prize money to the petitioner citing the above reason.Senior Advocate George Poothottam on behalf of the petitioner submitted that merely because she was the wife of the suspended agent, the department cannot deny her the prize amount.Special Government Pleader C.U Unnikrishnan attempted to make a submission that the petitioner was a partner of the Lottery Agency where her husband was previously employed, but this was immediately denied by the Counsel for the petitioner.The Court upon analysing the arguments observed:"According to the respondents, the petitioner is the wife of Sri.P. Muraleedharan, who is the Managing Partner of Manjoo Lottery Agency. But that is not a reason to deny the prize money of lottery which according to the petitioner purchased by her from another agent in Palakkad District." Thereafter, the Bench asked the State if there was a law that authorises the Government to do so. The Government Pleader accordingly took the Bench through Rule 9(8) of the Kerala Paper Lotteries (Regulation) Rules, and fairly conceded that there was no other provision. "There is no law that prohibits the petitioner from purchasing the lottery tickets either from her husband or from any other person and claiming the prize amount in the event of winning a prize."The said provision sets out that the prize money shall be paid after ascertaining the genuineness of the Prize ticket.Therefore, it was established that the duty of the authority was only to find out whether the lottery ticket was genuine.It was found that there was absolutely no dispute about the genuineness of the ticket produced by the petitioner. No case was registered against the petitioner at the instance of the lottery department either.Therefore, setting aside the impugned order denying the prize money to the petitioner, the Court observed:"When the petitioner produced a lottery ticket in accordance with the rules claiming the first prize, she is entitled to the prize amount, if there is no evidence to doubt the genuineness of the prize ticket." The Bench directed the Director of State Lotteries to disburse the amount after statutory deductions within two months.Case Title: Shitha P. v. State of Kerala Click Here To Read The Order

Lottery Prize Can't Be Denied Just Because Winner Happens To Be Wife Of A Suspended Lottery Agent : Kerala High Court

Hannah M Varghese

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