![\"Tamil](\"https:\/\/c.ndtvimg.com\/2023-02\/vjd87eoo_rn-ravi_625x300_13_February_23.jpg\"\/ "\\"Tamil")
<\/div>\n<\/div>\nTamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi has returned a bill passed by the assembly meant to ban online gambling and regulate online games. A highly placed source in the law department has said the Governor “has raised a few queries. The Speaker’s office has received it”. But the move is seen by many as a continuation of the confrontationist stance the state’s DMK government accuses him of.<\/p>\n
The assembly had passed the bill in October, after around 20 people died by suicide following losses in online gambling. “Now 44 people have died in the state,” said a government official.<\/p>\n
Although a law was enacted by the previous AIADMK government, the court had scrapped it.<\/p>\n
The DMK, after it came to power, framed the bill on\u00a0 basis of recommendations by a specially constituted committee under former judge Justice K Chandru.<\/p>\n
The bill, which aims to ban online gambling and regulate online games, also classifies a set of popular online games as “games of chance” controlled by computer algorithms.<\/p>\n
Governor Ravi, meanwhile, has met representatives of the online gaming industry, triggering criticism.<\/p>\n
He is yet to give assent to 20 bills passed by the state assembly, including bills seeking to remove him as the Chancellor of state universities.<\/p>\n
The ruling DMK and its allies have dubbed the Governor “an agent of the RSS and BJP”.<\/p>\n
He has been accused of acting as a “stumbling block to the state’s development”.<\/p>\n
Chief Minister MK Stalin has written to President Droupadi Murmu, asking her to intervene and ensure that the Governor abides by the Constitution and the advice of his government. \u00a0<\/p>\n
In a huge embarrassment to the Governor, the Chief Minister got a resolution adopted by the state assembly to not record the Governor’s version of the address in which he skipped portions that named leaders including Ambedkar and Periyar.<\/p>\n
He had also suggested changing the name of the state to Thamizhagam and touched a raw nerve by speaking about religion.<\/p>\n
RN Ravi had recently said “nothing prohibits him from sharing his personal views” and that it is “well within his rights to put bills on hold and it is a courteous way of saying no”.<\/p>\n
<\/span><\/p>\nFeatured Video Of The Day<\/h3>\n