Lady luck had smiled on him but not the authorities. Kishen Chand (74), a native of Panipat in Haryana, is sitting on an indefinite fast outside the state secretariat here since Monday. The reason: he is a bumper prize winner, but the state lottery department is not ready to part with the first prize money of Rs 1 crore.
For the past six months, he has been running from pillar to post to get his due. But when his attempts failed to move the authorities, he resorted to the extreme step. However, the state lottery directorate says that since the state lottery sale is restricted to the state, it is not in a position to pay the prize money to an outsider. Interestingly, an outsider is not barred from buying the ticket either.
On a business trip to the state capital, Kishen Chand, a textile merchant, had purchased a bundle of 50 "Karunya" lottery tickets (this lottery is intended to help those afflicted with dreaded diseases) in December. He got the bill and discount for taking 50 tickets together. On the lot day, one of his tickets (KR 239953) got the first prize.
"I waited for almost six months. I have got all relevant documents to claim the prize. But the authorities are passing the buck. Their decision is against the federal polity of the nation," he said. However, state lottery director Biju Prabhakar said that since at least a dozen such cases were pending before the Kerala high court, the lottery directorate couldn't take a decision on its own.
{{/usCountry}}"I waited for almost six months. I have got all relevant documents to claim the prize. But the authorities are passing the buck. Their decision is against the federal polity of the nation," he said. However, state lottery director Biju Prabhakar said that since at least a dozen such cases were pending before the Kerala high court, the lottery directorate couldn't take a decision on its own.
{{/usCountry}}"We have got information that often racketeers from Mumbai and other places buy state tickets in bulk and claim prizes discreetly. It is part of money laundering. This is not the first such case. Many cases are pending in the high court," he said, adding that Kishen Chand might be a genuine buyer, but since the court and the government had not settled the earlier cases, the department could not take a decision. He has already sought a crime branch probe into such claims.
However, jurists say natural justice has been denied to Kishen Chand. "Lottery is a commercial activity. How can you put a regional tag on it?" asked Sivan Madathil, a leading high court lawyer. "You can't deny money citing some malpractices. In that case, the government should make it clear that the state lottery is only for residents of Kerala. It is absurd and arbitrary," he said.