Bombay HC Rejects Plea to Reinstate Maharashtra Casinos Act

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The Bombay High Court has dismissed a petition filed by Dyutbhumi Hotels & Resorts Pvt Ltd, formerly known as Mumbai Gambling Management Pvt. Ltd., which sought directions for the Maharashtra government to enact the Maharashtra Casinos Act, 1976. The court stated that no legal rights could accrue from a repealed law.

As reported by Times of India, a bench comprising Justices Girish Kulkarni and Advait Sethna ruled that since the Maharashtra Casinos Act, 1976, was repealed in 2023, it no longer held any legal standing. “When the Act itself was a dead letter, no legal rights whatsoever could accrue to the petitioner so as to maintain this petition,” the court stated in its order on Wednesday.

The petitioner had filed the plea under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, seeking to declare the Maharashtra Casinos (Control & Tax) (Repeal) Act, 2023, as ultra vires the Constitution and requesting that the 1976 Act be brought into force. However, the court ruled that legislative actions, including enacting and repealing laws, fall strictly within the domain of the legislature. “It is completely within the domain of the Legislature to enact a particular law as also to repeal such law,” the order stated, noting that the Maharashtra Casinos Act was enacted 49 years ago but was never notified due to policy decisions by the state.

The order, authored by Justice Kulkarni, highlighted that the petition indirectly sought a directive for the legislature to reintroduce the 1976 Act. However, the court made it clear that such a move was not legally viable. “It can never be that by setting aside Repeal Act, 2023, the petitioner would achieve revival/re-birth of the original legislation, for the reason that the consequence of the repeal of the Act has already taken effect, namely, that Maharashtra Casinos Act, 1976, is no more in the statute book,” the order stated.

The petitioner, engaged in the hospitality business, had sought to open and operate casinos in Maharashtra. It had made a proposal to the state authorities, including the Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation. The petitioner’s counsel, senior advocate Anil Sakhare, referred to an October 9, 2015, High Court order in a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) that granted the state six months to decide whether to bring the 1976 Act into force. However, the state later decided against implementing the Act and instead repealed it in 2023.

After hearing state counsel S. D. Vyas, the court stated that the petitioner had no standing to challenge the repeal. “The resort was aggrieved by such repealing of a law that never was on the statute books,” the court noted, concluding that the petitioner had no grounds to challenge the repeal. The court reiterated that a law could only be deemed unconstitutional if it exceeded legislative competence, violated fundamental rights, or was ‘manifestly arbitrary.’ Since the Maharashtra Casinos Act, 1976, was never notified, none of these parameters applied.

Additionally, the court held that there could be no writ directing the legislature to revive or re-legislate the Act, stating that such an expectation was not legally feasible. “There cannot be a writ issued to the legislature to unbury or re-legislate,” the order stated, dismissing the petition.

The ruling affirms the legislature’s authority to decide which laws remain in force. The decision also clarifies the legal position on attempts to challenge repealed laws through judicial intervention.

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