In India, activist lawyer Aires Rodrigues has reportedly filed a petition seeking to reverse a government decision to grant an offshore casino license renewal to Mumbai-based firm Golden Globe Hotels Private Limited.

According to a report from Asia Gaming Brief, and several outlets in India the action from Rodrigues contends that the Bombay High Court’s decision to grant the Goa license renewal in August followed a statement made to the body by Additional Advocate General Dattaprasad Lawande that was allegedly misleading and contrary to the official record.

Rodrigues’ petition reportedly states that the court was incorrectly informed by Lawande that the government had favorably considered a representation made by Golden Globe Hotels Private Limited to renew its license from 2011 to 2016.

The action additionally contends that an official affidavit filed by the office of the Home Affairs Under-Secretary on December 7, 2015, declared that the expired offshore casino license could not be renewed while the local government preceded this in 2013 by deciding not to resume the license.

Goa currently has five floating casinos encompassing the Deltin Royale, Deltin Jaqk and the Deltin Caravela from Delta Corporation Limited alongside Pride Group’s Casino Pride and Casino Carnival while Asia Gaming Brief reported two weeks ago that Indian conglomerate Essel Group is planning to open a new enterprise on the Mandovi River christened as the Casino Maharaja.

Essel Group currently operates government lotteries in a number of Indian states under its Playwin brand and recently premiered its PokerNation.com online poker domain. It was formerly chaired by media entrepreneur Subhash Chandra and first announced a scheme to launch south Asia’s largest floating casino for the small Indian state in 2009.

However, this initial proposal from Essel Group was plagued by licensing issues, which could now be helped after Chandra was elected in August as an independent candidate from Haryana to the upper house of the Indian parliament, which is known as the Rajya Sabha.