SC notice to Centre, Nagaland over lottery scam

The petitioner requested the court to direct the state government to recover thousands of crores of rupees, which it failed to prevent being swindled and which were due from M S Associate, the sole distributor of Nagaland Lotteries.

He said because of a loosely worded agreement between the state government and the state’s sole distributor, the government during 1993-97 received a meagre 0.105 per cent of the total turnover of Rs 38,297.32 crore.

The petitioner also drew court’s attention to several such lacunae pointed out by the Comptroller and Auditor General during random check.

He alleged that prize money accruing to the general public was very low and a major chunk went to persons connected with lottery management, done by the distributor and the Officer on Special Duty of the state government posted at New Delhi.