Feature
SC gives CBI three weeks to take over Vyapam cases
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday gave CBI three weeks time to take over the charge of all Vyapam – admission and recruitment – scam cases in Madhya Pradesh while declining to grant, for now, the probe agency’s request for six to eight weeks’ time.
“If there is a substantial compliance (of our order), we will give you more time,” said a bench of Chief Justice H.L.Dattu, Justice Arun Mishra and Justice Amitava Roy as Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar told the court that investigating agency will come back after three weeks.
The court gave the investigating agency six weeks time to appoint independent lawyers to lead its cases before the special CBI courts trying Vyapam scam cases.
The court also sought the presence of Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi on August 7 as it said that it would ask the department of personnel and training to fill vacancies in the CBI which were coming in the way of investigating agency probing various cases on its own steam instead of seeking to rely on borrowed manpower from the states.
“We will direct the filling up of vacancies, let DoPT appear in the court,” said Chief Justice Dattu as Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar said: “That will go a long way.”
The court sought the presence of the department after Solicitor General Kumar urged the court for direction to Madhya Pradesh government make it available the services of about 250 personnel who would be under its supervision and entrusted with the investigation of non-Vyapam cases being probed by it.
He told the court that the Madhya Pradesh High Court by a July 24, 2015 notification has set up 20 courts across the state for the trial of cases.
He said that if five courts, dedicated for the trial of Vyapam cases, could be set up in Bhopal, then it would be far easier for the CBI to appoint public prosecutor for them to lead probe agency’s cases.
At the outset of the hearing, as Ranjit Kumar started addressing the court, Chief Justice Dattu asked him: “We asked you two question.. what is (the answer for) that.”
Ranjit Kumar told the court that CBI needed six to eight weeks time to complete the task of taking over the Vyapam cases from the Special Task Forces (STF) working under the Special Investigation Team (SIT).
He told the court that CBI wanted to first take over the cases where investigation is underway and the cases where investigation has been completed and charge sheet filed can wait before taking them under its umbrella.
The court was told of the 34 alleged Vyapam related death cases, where no FIR was filed, the CBI registered PE in 11 cases.
Ranjit Kumar told the court that out of total 185 cases, in 78 cases the investigation is complete, charge sheet has been filed and trial is going on. Thete are thirty four cases involving “highly influential people including public servants”.
As of now 78 cases involving impersonation and cheating in the examinations conducted by Vyapam are, for now, not the priority of the investigating agency.
The court was told that STF have registered 55 cases out of which 26 are under investigation and in 29 cases the trial is already underway. The court was told 130 cases were investigated by the state police.
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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