The Tamil Nadu Cabinet on Monday approved an ordinance against online rummy based on recommendations submitted by a committee headed by justice (retired) K Chandru after studying the impact of the game on people.

The cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister M K Stalin approved the Ordinance after changes were incorporated to the draft bill that was placed before it on August 29. “The Ordinance received the cabinet nod at today’s meeting. The Ordinance will be promulgated soon after receiving assent from the Governor,” an official statement from the government said. 

The statement also said the draft legislation was based on inputs received from the School Education Department on the effects of online rummy on students, and opinion received from people and other stakeholders. 

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Stalin had in June this year constituted a committee headed by justice Chandru and consisting of a technical expert from the Indian Institute of Technology-Madras (IIT-M), Sankararaman, Lakshmi Vijayakumar, founder of Sneha, an NGO involved in prevention of suicide, and ADGP Vinit Dev Wankhede to draft a “strong law” against online rummy.

This is the second time that Tamil Nadu is acting against online rummy – the AIADMK government had in 2021 imposed a ban through a law which was struck down by the Madras High Court on the grounds that the legislation was drafted without enough proof and reasons. 

The state government constituted the committee after several people died by suicide after losing lakhs of rupees playing the game online. The incident renewed the calls for a “strong legislation” against online rummy. 

The committee headed by justice Chandru looked into the financial losses incurred while playing the game, suicidal tendencies of people who lose money, analyse the ill-effects of online rummy through data, and the impact of the advertisements on people to play the game.