The Supreme Court has, in an interim order, directed the casino operators to deposit 75 per cent of the principal amount demanded by the Goa government as annual recurring fees for the Covid period within six weeks.
“For the present, we are inclined to direct that the petitioners will deposit 75 per cent of the demanded principal amount with the authorities concerned. The petitioners are also given liberty to deposit 100% of the demanded amount, in which case even if the special leave petitions are dismissed, in view of the statement made on behalf of the State of Goa, the petitioners would not be burdened with any interest. In case the petitioners deposit 75 per cent of the demanded principal amount and the special leave petitions are dismissed, the petitioners would be liable to pay interest as per law. The said deposit will be made within a period of six weeks from today,” the Supreme Court bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Aravind Kumar, said.
A bunch of casino operators had approached the Supreme Court challenging an order of the Bombay High Court at Goa, which rejected their pleas challenging the Goa government’s decision to ask them to pay annual recurring fees for the Covid period, during which time they were not allowed to operate.
The Bombay High Court at Goa in early April rejected petitions filed by the companies operating casinos operating in the state of Goa who had challenged orders of the state government asking them to pay the annual recurring fees including arrears for the years 2020 and 2021 during which time they were shut on account of the pandemic.
In its judgement the High Court had said that there was nothing arbitrary or unreasonable in the State government’s decision to ask the companies to pay up, whilst pointing out that the fees being charged by the State was the price the State was charging for parting with its exclusive privilege to the petitioners to deal in gambling activities and was not comparable with any other licensor licensee relationship.
