CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu cabinet led by chief minister M K Stalin on Monday gave its nod for an ordinance to ban online gambling. The cabinet meeting was held in the morning at the state secretariat. “An ordinance will soon be promulgated with the governor’s assent,” said an official release, issued later in the evening.
This comes against the backdrop of the Madras high court last year declaring a legislation enacted by the previous AIADMK government as being ultra vires of the Constitution. The DMK government had moved the Supreme Court in December last year, challenging the high court order.
The DMK government had constituted a committee under the chairmanship of retired judge Justice K Chandru to advise the state on enacting a fresh legislation to ban/regulate online games. The urgency stems from the fact that the state reported more than 20 suicides due to financial distress caused by playing online rummy since 2020.
The Chandru committee submitted its report to the government on June 27 and the cabinet was convened the same day to take note of the report’s recommendations.
A draft legislation was prepared with the aid of the law department based on an assessment of the school education department on the impact of online games on students, and the views of the public, and that of the inputs received from the stakeholders during a consultative meeting of the state government.
“The draft was placed before the cabinet during a meeting on August 29. It was informed at the meeting that the ordinance will further be refined and will be placed before the cabinet in full form. The ordinance was placed before the cabinet today and approval was received,” the official release said.