In Brief
In this case, an authorized lottery distributor challenged the levy of GST on lottery tickets, contending that lotteries are not 'goods' under the Constitution and that taxing only lottery, betting and gambling while exempting other actionable claims was discriminatory. The Supreme Court upheld the GST regime, holding that the writ petition was maintainable, that the statutory inclusion of actionable claims in 'goods' is constitutional, that the Constitution Bench's prior finding that lottery is an actionable claim is binding ratio decidendi, that differential taxation of these three categories has rational basis (welfare policy), and that prize money need not be excluded from taxable value under the statutory scheme. The Court dismissed the petition with liberty to separately challenge the notification equalizing tax rates.
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