LexThe Meghalaya Intoxicating Liquor (Prohibition of Publication of Advertisement) Act, 1976 (Act 14 of 1976)
Meghalaya · state statute
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MEGH
ALAYA ACT 14 OF 1976
THE MEGHALAYA INTOXICATING LIQUOR (PROHIBITION OF PUBLICATION OF
ADVERTISEMENTS) ACT, 1976
(As passed by the Assembly)
[Received the assent of the Governor on the 5th October, 1976]
(Published in the Gazette of Meghalaya, Extraordinary, dated 9th October, 1976)
An
Act
To prohibit the advertisement of liquor by cinematographic
exhibition and on walls, buildings and hoardings in
public places, and to provide for matters
connected therewith
Be it enacted by the Legislature of Meghalaya in the Twenty-seventh Year of the Republic of
India as follows:-
Short title, extent and
commencement.
1. (1) This Act may be called the Meghalaya Intoxicating
Liquor (Prohibition of Publication of Advertisements )
Act, 1976.
(2) It extends to the whole of Meghalaya.
(3) It shall come into force at once.
Definitions. 2. In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires:-
(a) “advertisement” includes any printed,
cyclostyled, type -written, hand- written or
painted matter or a design or pictorial
representation and also includes the distribution
or display of such matter, design or
representation on any wall, building or hoarding
in a public place or any announcement by means
of producing or transmitting light or sound,
whether by cinematographic exhibition, neon
signs or otherwise ;
(b) “intoxicating liquor” does not include a drug as
defined in the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 ;
(c) “officer of the Excise Department” means any
officer of the Excise Department appointed
under Section 8 of the Meghalaya Excise Act (
Eastern Bengal and Assam Act I of 1910 as
adapted and amended by Meghalaya).
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Prohibition of
advertisements relating
toe liquor.
3. No person shall publish or cause to be published any
advertisements which solicits the use of, of offers for
sale, any intoxicating liquor.
Explanation:- A sign -board on any premises in
which intoxicating liquor is manufactured or sold or
offered for sale indicating merely that such liquor is
manufactured, or sold or of fered for sale in those
premises, and any catalogue or price list of such liquor
kept or maintained in such premises, shall not amount to
the publication of such an advertisement.
Presumption. 4. Where any advertisement relating to any intoxicating
liquor has been published in contravention of Section 3,
it shall be presumed, unless the contrary is proved, that
the person on whose behalf it purports to have been
published is the person who has published it or caused it
to be published.
Power of the
inspection and seizure
of material object
containing published
advertisements.
5. (1) Subject to the provisions of any rules made in this
behalf, any officer of the Excise Department not below
the rank of Excise Inspector may –
(a) enter and search at all reasonable time with such
assistance, if any, as he considers necessary, any
place in which he has reason to believe that an
offence punishable under this Act has been or is
being committed ;
(b) seize and detain any article used for purposes of
an advertisement which he has reason to believe
contravenes any of the provisions of this Act ;
(c) examine any record, register, document or any
other material object found in any place
mentioned in clause (a) and seize the same, if he
has reason to believe that it may f urnish
evidence of the commission of an offence
punishable under this Act.
(2) Where any officer seizes any property under sub-
section (1) such seizure shall be reported to a Magistrate
forthwith, and the provis ions of Chapter XXXIV of the
Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, shall apply to the
custody and disposal thereof as they apply to property
referred to therein.
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Penalty
6. Any person who contravenes the provisions of Section 3
shall, on conviction, be punishable with imprisonment
which may extend to six months or with fine which may
extend to one thousand rupees or with both.
Investigation of
offence.
7. (1) An officer of the Excise Department not below the
rank of Excise Inspector may investigate any offence
under this Act committed within the limits of the area in
which he exercises jurisdiction and shall have in respect
of such investigation the same powers as an officer -in-
charge of a police station has in a cognizable case under
the provisions of Chapter XII of the Coder of Criminal
Procedure, 1973 and may, in particular, make such
investigation without an order of a Magistrate.
(2) In other respects, the provisions of the said Code or
in areas where the Code d oes not apply the spirit of the
Code relating to arrests, searches, search warrants,
production of persons arrested and investigation of
offences shall , so far as may be, apply to all actions
taken in these respects under this Act.
Protection of action
taken in good faith.
8. No suit, prosecution or other legal proceeding shall lie
against any person for anything which is in good faith
done or intended to be done under this Act.
Power to compound
offences.
9. (1) The Deputy Commissioner of the district may accept
from any person, against whom a reasonable suspicion
exists that he has committed any offence punishable
under this Act, such sum of money, not being less than
five hundred rupees, as he thinks fit by way of
composition for the offence which such p erson is
suspected to have committed.
(2) On the payment of such sum of money to the Deputy
Commissioner, the suspected person, if in custody, shall
be discharged and no other proceedings shall be taken
against him.
(3) The provisions of this Section shall apply also where
a prosecution or an appeal against conviction of an
offence under this Act is pending, and in such a case the
composition of such an offence under this Section shall
have the effect of acquittal of an accused with whom the
offence has been compounded.
Power to make rules. 10. The State Government may, by notification in the
Gazette, make rules for carrying out the purposes of this
Act.
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