Since April 24, 2019, ever since Gurdeep Singh Sachar filed a PIL in Bombay High Court alleging that Dream11 is involved in GST evasion by not paying tax on entry fees and face value of bets and is running games of chance/gambling, the matter has never been heard at length and with conviction.
Strikingly, a division Bench of Bombay High Court comprising Justices Ranjit More and Bharati Dangre had dismissed Sachar's case on April 30 without hearing the central government or issuing notice.
Several applications in 2020 asking for a review of the April 30 order by Bombay High Court drew a blank. Judges have resolutely refused to probe Dream11's nature of business and the operator has only grown popular by leveraging its association with Indian cricket and live events like an IPL.
Significantly on January 31, 2020, a Supreme Court bench headed by Justice Nariman, dismissed Sachar's miscellaneous application filed on January 24, saying the only scope to review before Bombay High Court is with respect to GST and not to revisit the issue of gambling involved in fantasy cricket.
However on March 6, 2020, a Special Leave Petition filed by the Maharashtra government on Dream 11's tax evasion, for the first time, was not listed in Justice Nariman's court. The matter was adjudicated by a three-judge Bench comprising Chief Justice SA Bobde, Justice Gavai and Justice Surya Kant.
Unimpressed with the Bombay High Court's order of April 30, 2019, Justice Gavai said: "What kind of order is this?" The Bench stayed the Bombay HC order and issued notice. For the first time, the scope of a proper debate became a possibility, but a hearing listed on March 26 was adjourned and never came up again.
Justice Bobde has since retired and the "Avinash Mehrotra vs the State of Rajasthan" case has landed in Justice Nariman's court. It is a matter in appeal from Rajasthan High Court's judgment in favour of Dream11. That verdict was virtually a cut and paste of the Bombay High Court order.
Interestingly, even during pandemic times, the court registrar has listed the Dream11 case important enough to be heard on Day 1 of the Supreme Court reopening after the summer vacation!
With the PM against games that create mental stress, public sentiment not in favour of betting activities that lead to suicides and several state governments banning online gaming for being socially 'evil', it remains to be seen how Messrs Nariman, Gavai and Joseph handle a matter that could become a gamechanger for the online gaming industry.