Feature
SC defers hearing on high court judges’ plea for equal pension
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday deferred hearing on a petition by former high court judges who were appointed directly from among practising lawyers, seeking pension and other benefits on par with those judges who came through the judicial service.
The apex court bench of Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice N.V. Ramana deferred the matter by four weeks, noting a government statement that a bill to bring parity in the pensions and other pecuniary benefits of judges appointed directly from the bar and those from the judicial service would be brought in parliament on July 20.
The Association of Retired Judges of Supreme Court and High Courts moved the contempt petition against the Centre for not enforcing the March 31, 2014, apex court verdict directing equal pension and other benefits for judges appointed from the bar and through the judicial service.
Senior counsel M.R. Calla for the association said the apex court ruled that lawyers who become high court judges from the bar and do not complete the qualifying service on their retirement must be given the benefit of 10-year practice as lawyers and should be paid pensions equivalent to other judges appointed to high courts from judicial services.
The apex court verdict said judges directly coming from the bar bar should also get domestic allowance and medical facilities etc., to be paid by the state governments, said Calla.
The apex court, senior counsel Calla said, also said pension and pensionary benefits to be extended to former judges taken from the bar should be at par with those prevailing in Andhra Pradesh.
The apex court’s March 31, 2014, ruling had to be implemented within six months and that too retrospectively from 2004, Calla said.
The apex court direction said, “…we accept the petitioners’ claim and declare that for pensionary benefits, ten years’ practice as an advocate be added as a qualifying service for judges elevated from the bar.”
It added that “in order to remove arbitrariness in the matter of pensions of the judges of the high courts elevated from the bar, the reliefs, as mentioned above, are to be reckoned from April 1, 2004, the date on which Section 13 was inserted by the High Court and Supreme Court Judges (Salaries and Conditions of Service) Amendment Act, 2005 (46 of 2005).”
The apex court directed that the “requisite amendment be carried out in the High Court Judges Rules, 1956, with regard to post-retiral benefits as has been done in relation to the retired judges of the Supreme Court in terms of amendment carried out by Rule 3B of the Supreme Court Judges Rules, 1959”.
The State Scores Extra High on Gaming-Friendly Industry Index
Meghalaya scored 92.85 out of 100 possible points in a Gaming Industry Index and proved to be India’s most gaming-friendly state following its recent profound legislation changes over the field allowing land-based and online gaming, including games of chance, under a licensing regime.
The index by the UK India Business Council (UKIBC) uses a scale of 0 to 100 to measure the level of legalisation on gambling and betting achieved by a state based on the scores over a set of seven different games – lottery, horse racing, betting on sports, poker, rummy, casino and fantasy sports
Starting from February last year, Meghalaya became the third state in India’s northeast to legalise gambling and betting after Sikkim and Nagaland. After consultations with the UKIBC, the state proceeded with the adoption of the Meghalaya Regulation of Gaming Act, 2021 and the nullification of the Meghalaya Prevention of Gambling Act, 1970. Subsequently in December, the Meghalaya Regulation of Gaming Rules, 2021 were notified and came into force.
All for the Tourists
The move to legalise and license various forms of offline and online betting and gambling in Meghalaya is aimed at boosting tourism and creating jobs, and altogether raising taxation revenues for the northeastern state. At the same time, the opportunities to bet and gamble legally will be reserved only for tourists and visitors.
“We came out with a Gaming Act and subsequently framed the Regulation of Gaming Rules, 2021. The government will accordingly issue licenses to operate games of skill and chance, both online and offline,” said James P. K. Sangma, Meghalaya State Law and Taxation Minister speaking in the capital city of Shillong. “But the legalized gambling and gaming will only be for tourists and not residents of Meghalaya,” he continued.
To be allowed to play, tourists and people visiting the state for work or business purposes will have to prove their non-resident status by presenting appropriate documents, in a process similar to a bank KYC (Know Your Customer) procedure.
Meghalaya Reaches Out to a Vast Market
With 140 millions of people in India estimated to bet regularly on sports, and a total of 370 million desi bettors around prominent sporting events, as per data from one of the latest reports by Esse N Videri, Meghalaya is set to reach out and take a piece of a vast market.
Estimates on the financial value of India’s sports betting market, combined across all types of offline channels and online sports and cricket predictions and betting platforms, speak about amounts between $130 and $150 billion (roughly between ₹9.7 and ₹11.5 lakh crore).
Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Delhi are shown to deliver the highest number of bettors and Meghalaya can count on substantial tourists flow from their betting circles. The sports betting communities of Karnataka, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana are also not to be underestimated.
Among the sports, cricket is most popular, registering 68 percent of the total bet count analyzed by Esse N Videri. Football takes second position with 11 percent of the bets, followed by betting on FIFA at 7 percent and on eCricket at 5 percent. The last position in the Top 5 of popular sports for betting in India is taken by tennis with 3 percent of the bet count.
Local Citizens will Still have Their Teer Betting
Meghalaya residents will still be permitted to participate in teer betting over arrow-shooting results. Teer is a traditional method of gambling, somewhat similar to a lottery draw, and held under the rules of the Meghalaya Regulation of the Game of Arrow Shooting and the Sale of Teer Tickets Act, 2018.
Teer includes bettors wagering on the number of arrows that reach the target which is placed about 50 meters away from a team of 20 archers positioned in a semicircle.
The archers shoot volleys of arrows at the target for ten minutes, and players place their bets choosing a number between 0 and 99 trying to guess the last two digits of the number of arrows that successfully pierce the target.
If, for example, the number of hits is 256, anyone who has bet on 56 wins an amount eight times bigger than their wager.
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