Bombay High Court
Union Of India vs Gurdeep Singh Sachar And Ors on 16 October, 2023
Bench: Sunil B. Shukre, Bharati Dangre
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY
CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION
CRI-INTERIM APPLICATION NO. 125 OF 2020
IN
PUBLIC INTEREST LITIGATION NO. 16 OF 2019
Union of India ... Applicant
V/s.
Gurudeep Singh Sachar and Ors. ... Respondents
-------------------
Mr. J.B. Mishra a/w. Mr. Satyaprakash Y. Sharma with Mr. D.B.
Deshmukh and MR. Ashutosh Mishra for the review petitioner.
Mr. Sarosh Damania, advocate for the petitioner.
Mr. Vikram Nankani, Senior advocate a/w. Mr. Prakash Shah with Mr.
Ramnath R. Jain, Ms. Ananya and Mr. P.K. Shetty for respondent no.
3.
---------------------
CORAM : SUNIL B. SHUKRE &
SMT. BHARATI DANGRE, J.J.
(IN CHAMBER)
DATE : 16th OCTOBER, 2023.
PC:
1. After going through the order passed by the Apex Court on
31st January 2020 in Miscellaneous Application No. 11445 of 2019,
Union of India vs. Dream 11 Fantasy Pvt. Ltd. and Ors. and the order
dated 13th December 2019 passed in Special Leave Petition (Criminal)
Diary No. 43346 of 2019, Gurdeep Singh Sachar v/s. Union of India
and Ors., what has become clear is that the view taken by this Court
2-cri-IA-125-2020.doc
varsha 1 of 4
that Online Fantasy Sports Gaming conducted by the Assessing
Company i.e. original respondent no. 3 is not a gambling activity nor a
game of chance but a game of skill has been upheld by the Supreme
Court and it has kept open the issue only with respect to the GST
aspect, and that too after making it clear that this Court shall not
revisit the issue relating to the nature of Fantasy Sports Gaming
already decided by this Court.
2. However, there is another order passed by the Supreme
Court in Special Leave Petition filed by the State of Maharashtra and
Ors. v/s. Gurdeep Singh Sachar and Ors. , the original petitioners,
being Special Leave Petition (Criminal) Diary No (s). 42282 of 2019,
staying the operation of the judgment and order delivered by this
Court, which are the subject matter of the present review petition.
3. The effect of this order, read with the aforestated orders
dated 13th December 2019 and 31st January 2020, is that the issue of
Online Fantasy Sports Gaming not being gambling but a game of skill
dependent upon exercise of superior knowledge, judgment and
attention has attained finality and what is required to be considered
now is only the manner in which the GST is to be levied on the Online
Fantasy Sports Gaming activity. But, there is a difficulty again in
hearing this review petition and it arises out of the stay granted by the
Supreme Court on 6th March 2020 in Special Leave Petition (Criminal)
Diary No. (s) 42282 of 2019 to the operation of the said part of the
judgment and order due to which, this Court now would not be in a
position to hear this review petition. Then, the question would arise as
2-cri-IA-125-2020.doc
varsha 2 of 4
to whether or not this Writ Petition should be kept pending till the
Supreme Court decides the Special Leave Petition (Criminal) Diary No.
(s) 42282 of 2019 or this petition be disposed of as having been
rendered infructuous, at least for the time being, with liberty granted
to the petitioners to file a fresh review petition depending upon the
fate of the said Special Leave Petition.
4. Learned counsel for the petitioners submits that it would be
better that this petition is kept pending till the Apex Court decides the
said S.L.P, although, the learned Senior counsel for the Assessee
Company would submit that no purpose would be served by keeping
this petition pending as it is not known as to when the said SLP would
be finally disposed of.
5. Learned counsel for the review petitioners further submits
that pendency of another SLP being Special Leave to Appeal (C) No.
(s) 19366-19369 of 2023 is another reason why this review petition be
kept pending.
6. Mr. Nankani, learned Senior Advocate for the Assessee
Company submits that insofar as the issue relating to nature of Online
Fantasy Sports Gaming is concerned and this Court having already held
that it is not a gambling but a game of skill, and the Apex Court having
already upheld the said view of this Court, according it finality, it
cannot be revisited now by this Court, and thus would be out of the
scope of the present review petition. He further submits that now this
Court can only consider the issue with respect to the GST, as could be
seen from the orders dated 31st January 2020 and 13th December 2019
2-cri-IA-125-2020.doc
varsha 3 of 4
passed in the aforestated petitions. We agree with these submissions of
learned Senior Advocate for the Assessee Company.
7. However, considering the fact that the S.L.P filed by the
State is pending before the Apex Court and there is a stay to the
operation of the judgment and order, which are the subject matter of
the present review petition to the extent of the GST issue, and also the
fact that the review petitioners would like to keep this petition pending
till final decision of the Apex Court comes forth, we adjourn the review
petition till the S.L.P in question is finally decided by the Supreme
Court.
(SMT. BHARATI DANGRE, J) (SUNIL B. SHUKRE, J)
2-cri-IA-125-2020.doc
Signed by: Varsha D Gaikwad
varsha 4 of 4
Designation: PA To Honourable Judge
Date: 17/10/2023 16:46:41
