Karnataka HC allows resumption of horse racing, betting in Bengaluru, says state refusal to renew licenses unjustified

The state government had not renewed licences for horse racing by citing a police investigation that reportedly unravelled illegal betting activities at the turf club. The order was passed by the Home and Finance departments after rejecting an application by the BTC to conduct horse racing and another seeking grant of betting license.

On Tuesday, the bench of Justice S R Krishna Kumar granted the stay on the order. “In my considered opinion, the petitioners have made out a prima facie case and the balance of convenience is in their favour and they would be put to irreparable injury and hardship and justice would suffer…,” the High Court said while stating that the refusal to grant licenses was “wholly illegal, arbitrary, discriminatory, irrational and unreasonable apart from being violative of principles of natural justice…”

The High Court has stated that horse racing is a game of skill as settled by the Supreme Court and as a result, the Karnataka government is “not entitled to refuse licence on the ground that petitioners were carrying on illegal racing and betting activities”.

“The impugned orders are vitiated in as much as even after the alleged raid conducted in the BTC premises on 12.01.2024, pursuant to which, an FIR was registered…the respondents-State themselves granted licences in March, 2024 in favour of BTC and consequently, the State was clearly estopped from relying upon the very same criminal proceedings for the purpose of refusing licence for the month of April 2024 onwards in favour of the petitioners,” the High Court noted.

The High Court also said that the state had relied heavily on the chargesheet filed by the police in the case of alleged illegal betting at the BTC that was unearthed in January but pointed out that “the BTC itself is not arraigned as an accused in the said charge sheet” and that the “arraigning of only the bookmakers, the Chairman of the BTC and one paid employee could not have been made the basis to refuse grant of license, especially when pendency of the said criminal proceedings does not operate as a disqualification or an embargo for grant of license in favour of the BTC for racing and betting activities”.

The ban on racing and legal betting will result in “irreparable injury and hardship not only to the petitioners but also to the race horses themselves who are lying idle without their regular racing activity, which would cause ailments, diseases etc., which is sufficient to indicate that the balance of convenience is in favour of the petitioners,” the High Court said.

“Pending decision in the petitions, by way of an interim arrangement and subject to the final outcome of the petitions, petitioners in all the writ petitions are permitted to conduct and carry on all on-course and off-course racing and betting activities of the Bangalore Turf Club, subject to the same terms and conditions of the licences issued in March, 2024 by the respondents-State and also subject to complying with the provisions of the Mysore Race Course Licensing Act, 1952 and Mysore Race Course Licensing Rules, 1952,” the High Court ruled.