The Bombay High Court has ordered the government in the Indian state of Maharashtra to clarify its casino stance after it was revealed the state had passed casino legislation four decades ago.

On Friday, the Court instructed the Maharashtra government to confirm whether or not it intended to implement the Maharashtra Casinos (Control and Tax) Act 1976, which authorized casino operation in the state. The Court has given the government one month to respond.

Law student Jay Satya stumbled across a copy of the Act following a Right to Information appeal. Last December, Satya sent a letter requesting notification of the Act to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who failed to respond. Satya then filed a Public Interest Litigation seeking to compel the government to implement the Act, which received the Governor’s assent on July 22, 1976.

Satya’s petition notes that, at present, casinos are only permitted in the states of Goa and Sikkim. The petition accuses the Maharashtra government of having “arbitrarily and unreasonably kept in abeyance the Act by not notifying it.”