A Division Bench of the High Court of Karnataka on Saturday prohibited horse racing, on-course and off-course betting activities at the Bangalore Turf Club, till the petitions filed by the BTC and others are finally adjudicated before a single judge.

The Bench, comprising Chief Justice N.V. Anjaria and Justice K.V. Aravind, passed the interim order, while staying the June 18 interim order passed by a single judge. The State government had filed an appeal against the interim order of the single judge, who had stayed the June 6 order of the government refusing permission for horse races and betting at BTC.

While pointing out that the discretion exercised by the government in rejecting BTC’s application for granting licence is prima facie reasonable and was on the basis of relevant and germane factors and considerations, the Bench said that the single judge could not have allowed racing and betting as an interim measure as it amounted to granting final relief itself, which is contrary to the law laid down by the Supreme Court.

“When the top office-bearers of the club themselves have been facing criminal prosecution and are the accused in a criminal case, it would hardly be safe to leave the supervision and the fate in their hands,” the Bench noted, while pointing out that the BTC chairman, the CEO, the secretary, and a betting ring manager have been arraigned as accused in the chargesheet filed against bookmakers for illegal activities with the BTC premises.

The Bench also said that the present situation is entirely different to the time when the licences were granted in March, when only an FIR was registered. The police now have already filed the preliminary chargesheet, in which the top office-bearers of the BTC have also been arraigned as accused for their alleged involvement in illegalities of bookmakers.

The government’s June 6 order of rejecting licence recited that the management of the BTC, though aware, remained inactive, and failed to perform supervisory role on the alleged illegalities of bookies and operation of unlicenced bookies on its premises, the Bench noted.

“If it is the apprehension that the event is prone to promoting and peddling illegalities relating to cash receipts, benami transactions, bookie betting inside and outside the premises, the competent authority is entirely justified in rejecting the licence to hold the event,” the Bench said, and added that all these observations would be limited only for the interim order.

“The single judge rested upon irrelevant consideration in his reasoning to stay the rejection of licence and permit the horse racing event to take place… the criminal cases pending against the accused persons could not have been overlooked since they relate to the very kind of illegalities. The single judge erred in observing that in the facts of the case, extraordinary jurisdiction was required to be invoked and that it was exceptional to grant the interim stay and permitting the horse racing…”, the Bench observed.

Pointing out that the management of the BTC cannot claim impunity and cannot claim to be absolved for activities done by the bookies and their assistants, the Bench said that “the single judge, in holding that the activities carried on by the bookies have no nexus to the aspect of refusal or grant of licence, even if they are illegal and subjected to pending criminal proceedings, committed a manifest error in reasoning and in exercising his discretion in favour of the petitioners.”