The Kerala High Court has directed the State government to disburse the prize amount of ₹40.95 lakh to the winner of the government’s ‘win win’ lottery, the draw of which was held in 2015.
The directive came on a petition by P. Sitha of Palakkad. The government had turned down her claim, citing that she is the wife of a lottery agent which was suspended by the Lottery Department for indulging in unlawful business practice.
According to the petitioner, she had purchased the lottery ticket from an agent in Palakkad. She contended that she could not be refused the prize amount merely because she was the wife of the owner of a lottery agency which had faced some allegations. She had furnished the original lottery before the Director of State Lotteries.
Ticket genuine
Allowing her petition, Justice P.V. Kunhikrishnan observed that the duty of the authority was only to find out whether the ticket was genuine. There was absolutely no dispute about the genuineness of the ticket produced by the petitioner.
Besides, there was no law prohibiting the petitioner from purchasing lottery tickets either from her husband or from any other person and presenting the same for cash in the event of winning a prize. If the allegations against the petitioner were true, the department should have registered at least a criminal case against the petitioner. However, no case was registered against the petitioner, the judge pointed out.
