The Bombay High Court on Tuesday, prima facie held the restriction of allowing only four person’s on a table to play the game of ‘rummy’ as unreasonable.

A division bench of Justice RM Borde and Justice Rajesh Ketkar said “People play rummy with more than 13 cards, and even with two or more set of card packs, then how can you limit to only four people.”

The court made this observation while hearing a petition filed by Milind Limaye, founder president of Competitive Tournament Rummy Players Association.

As per rule 9 of the state home department notification of 2003, on a card table the number of people are restricted to four. Limaye who also wants to start a Card Court Café, a first of its kind in Pune said.

“The restriction can be prevalent for games like Bridget but not for ‘rummy’. However, Government pleader Abhinandan Vagyani informed the court that “The restriction of four is because there are 52 cards in a pack and 13 are distributed to each one, so only four will be able to play the game.”

Limaye has challenged the order of the state home department, refusing permission for performance license, premises license and sale of ticket licenses, for his café, claiming that there are no proper rules set for holding such a café or competition.

The association plans to also hold a competition of rummy across various cities in Maharashtra, for which they need a suitability certificate, which also the government has refused to grant. This is also under challenge. Limaye said the association has framed its own rules to ensure that the game is not one of chance but of skill and accordingly there are no coins exchanged but a point and numbering system is evolved.

The court has granted two weeks time to Limaye to amend his petition and posted the matter thereafter and also asked the state government to take instruction on the issue raised.