- (1.) In Civil Appeal No. 1715 (N) of 1975 the operation of the Madras Act 44 of 1974 abolishing wagering and betting on bourse races had been stayed till the disposal of appeal. After the stay order was made by this Court, horse races were resumed within the State of Tamil Nadu. Thereafter, the Madras Race Club (Acquisition and Transfer of Undertaking) Act, 1986 (Madras Act 26 of 1986) was enacted and it received the assent of the President and came into force on 9th April 1986. On the enactment of this Acquisition Act, a number of writ petitions under Article 32 of the Constitution were filed before this Court challenging the vires of that Act. On April 30, 1986, this Court directed that pending hearing and disposal of these writ petitions, the Custodian will remain in charge of running of the Club but would be subject to the supervision of a Committee of Management consisting of 12 persons, six of whom were to be nominated by the State Government and the other six by the Club. For some inexplicable reason, perhaps on account of some misunderstanding, the appellants in Civil Appeal No. 1715 (N) of 1975 withdrew on May 6, 1986, that appeal with the result that the stay Order which had been granted by this Court came to an end and the Abolition Act became operative. The State Government accordingly announced on the floor of the Legislature on 7th May 1986 that they had decided to abolish racing and betting forthwith. The Madras Race Club thereupon filed a writ petition in this Court challenging the constitutional validity of the Abolition Act and though this writ petition was admitted, no stay order was granted by this Court.
(2.) On 6th August 1986, various applications for interim relief came up before this Court and after hearing the parties a direction was given by this Court that though there would be no order of stay of operation of the Abolition Act, that Act "will not stand in the way of Committee of Management of the Club holding inter-venue betting as was being done before. The clear intention behind giving this interim direction was that until the disposal of the writ petition intervenue betting may be permitted to be held. This Court also by the same Order directed that pending the disposal of the writ petition, the horse owners should continue to enjoy the same facilities which they were enjoying from the Club by way of stabling, etc., on the same terms which were being charged by the Club.
(3.) The Committee of Management thereafter met on 8th August 1986 to decide whether inter-venue betting should be continued or not but at this meeting diverse views were expressed and ultimately it was decided to seek the clarification of the Order dated 6th August 1986. An application was accordingly filed in this Court for clarification of the Order dated 6th August 1986 and on this application an order was made by this Court on 14th August 1986 pointing out that the nominees of the State Government who participated in the meeting dated 8th .August 1986, to decide whether inter-venue betting should be permitted or not, did not exercise their independent judgment since according to the affidavit of Shri Venkataraman who is also a Member of the Committee of Management, the nominees had to adhere to the declared policy of the State Government that betting on horses is an offence and they could not, therefore, take any other view except that inter-venue betting should not be held. It was pointed out by this Court in the Order dated 14th August 1986 that this view taken by the nominees of the State Government was erroneous since it had been made clear by this Court in its earlier Order that the Abolition Act should not stand in the way of the Committee of Management taking a decision whether or not to permit inter-venue betting and since there was effectively an interim order staying the operation of the Abolition Act in so far as inter-venue betting is concerned, the Committee of Management had to come to its decision "without being obsessed by and without taking into account the provisions of the Abolition Act". This Court, therefore, directed the Committee of Management to hold another meeting on/or before 18th August 1986 and to "take a decision in regard to the question whether inter-venue betting should be permitted or not without in any manner being obsessed or influenced by the policy of the State Government...... because to that extent the Abolition Act had been stayed by us." It was clearly stated in the Order that all the Members of the Committee of Management will exercise their independent judgment in regard to this question solely from the point of view as to what is in the interest of the Institution and the public.;