Local Goa News

Wednesday, August 10, 2016

Casino licence renewal only if fees are paid: CM

Panaji: Chief minister Laxmikant Parsekar on Wednesday said that the government may consider the renewal of offshore casino licence of Golden Globe Hotels Private Limited (GGHPL) if the annual recurring fees, with penalty and interest, was paid by the company to the state treasury.

Parsekar told TOI, "We will not allow any more offshore casinos in the state, but out of the six offshore casino licences, one casino licence was not renewed due to technical reason. We may consider renewal of their license, if they pay the recurring fees with interest and penalty."
Justifying the government decision he said that GGHPL's casino is not a new casino and is one of the six casinos issued licences by the government earlier on.
Asked when the government would approach the cabinet for approval, as it had in the past decided to have only five offshore casinos in the state, Parsekar said there is no need to approach the cabinet as the casino was already issued a licence.
As to whether the decision would hit the BJP, which has previously been battered on the casino issue, the CM replied in the negative. "It's an old casino. The licence was issued long ago. They went to the court and got a court order. The court has said that if they pay the recurring fees with interest, the government should consider their application favourably," Parsekar said, and added that the government treasury will get around 50-60 crore in the eventuality that GGHPL pays the fees.
In an exclusive report, TOI, on Wednesday, said that River Mandovi might get a sixth casino as the state government has stated before the high court of Bombay at Goa that it shall favourably consider the application for further renewal of casino licence from the year 2016 in case GGHPL deposits the annual recurring fees.
Currently there are five offshore casino vessels in River Mandovi. The fifth one to join the operation recently was Casino Caravela.

TOI Goa News

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