Nithyakalyani Narayanan. V
On August 18, the Maharashtra Government scrapped the Maharashtra Casino (Control and Tax) Act, 1976 and declared that there will be no casinos in the state in the future.
The Home Department, headed by Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, proposed to repeal the Act. An official from the department reported that “The Act has been in effect from 1976, but has not been implemented till now. But since the Act was in place, the interested parties were approaching the courts seeking permissions to set up casinos in the state.”
The official also remarked that “Since the Act has been in effect for 45 years, it was discussed at the senior bureaucratic level about its implementation. Based on the discussions, it was decided that it should not be applied in the state and following that the proposal to repeal it was taken in today’s cabinet meeting.”
The decision to repeal the law was taken in Mumbai, at the weekly Cabinet meeting presided over by the Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde. The Act could never be implemented because of strong opposition to casinos from various sections. Fearing backlash, successive governments never attempted it in the last four decades.