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| Tuesday, 23 March 2004 |
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by Wasantha Ramanayake The Supreme Court yesterday restrained the proposed launch of Mahapola Instant Lottery ticket which is due to be held today, after considering a Fundamental Rights application filed by the Development Lotteries Board. The Court, sequel to an application by the petitioner The Development Lotteries Board (DLB) also stayed the operation of the Lottery Management Services Agreement entered into by the DLB and the fourth respondent GTECH Lanka (Private) Ltd., Colombo 10, until the final determination of the application. In terms of the interim order the fourth respondent was restrained from taking any steps in pursuance of the agreement. The Bench comprised Justices Dr. Shirani Bandaranayake, H. S. Yapa and Nihal Jayasinghe. Petitioner cited Mahapola Higher Education Scholarship Trust Fund (MHESTF), Secretary to the Ministry of Commerce and Consumer Affairs and Trustee to the Fund Harsha Wickremasinghe, Trustee to the Fund Saman Ediriweera, GTECH Lanka (Pvt) Ltd., and the Attorney General (AG) as respondents. Counsel Sanjeewa Jayawardane for the petitioner Board submitted that first and fourth respondents MHESTF and GTECH Lanka (Pvt) Ltd. entered into the Lottery Management Services Agreement. Then in terms of the agreement the fourth respondent GTECH Ltd. had the right to manage the Mahapola Instant Lottery Ticket which was due to be launched today (23), on behalf of the MHESTF. The Counsel argued that the agreement empowering the fourth respondent to conduct the lottery on behalf of the MHESTF was contrary to the law which only permitted the National Lotteries Board and the petitioner DLB to operate through third parties, and it violated the petitioner's rights. He submitted that in terms of the agreement, only four percent of the net income after effecting various payments would be used to attain its principal objective i.e. to provide higher educational facilities to youth. Counsel submitted that the fourth respondent's holding company GTECH Corporation had a highly dubious international reputation for operating lotteries in a corrupt manner and the purported agreement had been entered into without the lawful mandate of a properly constituted Board of the first respondent MHESTF and also lacked transparency. Sanjeewa Jayawardane with Priyanthi Gunaratne and Prasanna Abeysekera instructed by Sudath Perera Associates appeared for the DLB. The court fixed the case for the support for the extension of the interim orders, for March 30. |
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