Gangtok, Jan. 4: Armed with a stay order from Sikkim High Court, Meghalaya State Lotteries is back with its popular two-digit draw and doing brisk business.

Agencies of this popular lottery were forced to shut shop around a year ago after the state government moved court, demanding the imposition of a flat sales tax of Rs 10,000 per draw.

The division bench of acting Chief Justice N. Surjyamani Singh and judge A.P. Subba granted an interim stay order on the tax levied by the income tax and sales tax cell of the state finance department on the two digit lottery on December 29.

The cell levied the tax on weekly, fortnightly and monthly lotteries, where prizes are offered on the basis of the last two digits.

The high court issued the order on the petition of Ms. Jalaram Lottery Agency, the dealers for Meghalaya State Lotteries. The agency had filed a petition last year stating that it was unable to expand business and pleaded that the tax be quashed.

?The amending provisions of Section 5A of the Sikkim Sales Tax (amendment) Act, 2003 shall not stand in the way of the petitioners while selling the Meghalaya state lottery tickets in the state of Sikkim. In other words section 5A, ?.. shall remain suspended only in case of the present petitioners pending final disposition of this writ petition,? the order reads.

It also mentions that it was the tentative view that a fixed rate of tax could be introduced by way of legislation having a link with the turnover for bringing uniformity in the act.

The state government had imposed the tax from January last year after the Sikkim Sales Tax Amendment Bill was passed in the Assembly. The amendment was made not only to generate more revenue but also to discourage people from playing lotteries.

Apart from Meghalaya State Lottery, the two-digit state lotteries of Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh and Bhutan are also popular.

Though officially called a two-digit lottery, it is in reality a single-digit draw. While the results declared are of two digits, the second last digit is the winning number.

The income tax and sales tax cell is likely to further amend the act.