The UTTAR PRADESH INTOXICATING LIQUOR (OBJECTIONABLE ADVERTISEMENTS) ACT, 1976

  
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 THE UTTAR PRADESH INTOXICATING LIQUOR 
(OBJECTIONABLE ADVERTISEMENTS) ACT, 19761 
(U. P. ACT No. 3 OF 1976) 
Amended by 
U.P. Act No. 10 of 2026 
 [ Passed in Hindi by the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council 
on March 31, 1976 and by the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly 
on April 2, 1976. 
Received the assent of the Governor on April 12, 1976 
under Article 200 of the Constitution of India and was published in 
the Uttar Pradesh Gazette Extraordinary, dated April 13, 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.   
 It is hereby enacted 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 Uttar Pradesh Intoxicating 
Liquor (Objectionable Advertisements) Act, 1976.   
(2) It extends to the whole of Uttar Pradesh.  
(3) It shall be deemed to have come into force on November 1, 
1975. 
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 an announcement by means of producing or 
transmitting light or sound, whether by cinematographic exhibition, 
neon signs or otherwise ;  
U. P. Act IV of 
1910 (b) “Excise Inspector” or other “Excise Officer” means an Excise 
Inspector or other Excise Officer appointed under section 10 of the 
United Provinces Excise Act, 1910 ;  
Act XXIII of 
1940 (c) “intoxicating liquor” does not include a drug as defined in the 
Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940.  
Production of 
advertisements 
relating to 
liquor 
3. No person shall publish or cause to be publish any 
advertisement which solicits the use of, or 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  
 
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1.  For Statement of Objects and Reasons see Uttar Pradesh Gazette Extraordinary, dated March 3, 1976. 
[The Uttar Pradesh Intoxicating Liquor (Objectionable Advertisements) Act, 1976]  
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 indicating merely that such liquor is manufactured, or sold or offered 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 an 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 
inspection 
and seizure 
of material 
object 
containing 
published 
advertise-
ments  
5. (1) Subject to the provisions of any rules made in this behalf, 
any Excise Officer not below the rank of Excise Inspector may — 
(a) enter and search at all reasonable times 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 furnish evidence of the commission 
of an offence punishable under this Act.  
Act 2 of 1974 (2) Where any officer seizes any property under sub-section (1) 
such seizure shall be reported to a magistrate forthwith, and the 
provisions 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.   
Penalty 6. Any person who contravenes the provisions of section 3 shall, 
on conviction, be punishable 1[with a penalty which may extend to 
seventy-five thousand rupees].  
Offence by 
Companies.  7. (1) If the person committing an offence under this Act is a 
company, the company as well as every person in-charge of and 
responsible to the company for the conduct of its business at the time of 
the commission of the offence shall be deemed to be guilty of the offence 
and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly :  
 Provided that nothing contained in this sub-section shall render 
any such person liable to any punishment provided in this Act if he 
proves that the offence was committed without his knowledge or that he 
exercised all due diligence to prevent the commission of such offence:  
 (2) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1), where 
an offence under this Act has been committed by a company and it  
is   proved   that   the   offence   was   committed  with   the  consent  or  
 
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1. Subs. by THE SCHEDULE of U.P. Act no. 10 of 2026. 
[The Uttar Pradesh Intoxicating Liquor (Objectionable Advertisements) Act, 1976] 
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 connivance of, or is attributable to any neglect on the part of any 
managing agent, secretary, treasure, director, manager, or other officer 
of the company such managing agent, secretary, treasurer, director, 
manager or other officer of the company shall also be deemed to be 
guilty of that offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and 
punished accordingly.   
 Explanation — For the purposes of this section — 
(a) “company” means anybody corporate and includes a firm or 
other association of individuals ; and 
(b) “director” in relation to a firm means a partner in the firm.   
Investigation 
of offence 
Act 2 of 1974 
8. (1) An Excise Officer 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 Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 and may in particular make such 
investigation without any order of a magistrate.  
 (2) In other respects, the provisions of the said 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 respect under this Act.  
Protection of 
action taken 
in good faith 
9. 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  
10. (1) The District Magistrate 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 as he thinks fit by 
way of composition for the offence which such person is suspected to 
have committed.  
 (2) On the payment of such sum of money to the District 
Magistrate, 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 11. The State Government may, by notification in the Gazette, 
make rules for carrying out the purposes of this Act.   
Repeal and 
Savings 
U. P. 
Ordinance 
no. 6 of 1976 
 
U. P. 
Ordinance 
no. 33 of 
1975 
12. (1) The Uttar Pradesh Intoxicating Liquor (Objectionable 
Advertisements) Ordinance, 1976. is hereby repealed. 
(2) Notwithstanding such repeal or the repeal of the Uttar 
Pradesh Intoxicating Liquor (Objectionable Advertisements) Ordinance, 
1975 by the aforesaid Ordinance of 1976 anything done or any action 
taken under the said Ordinances shall be deemed or have been done or 
taken under this Act, as if this Act were in force at all material times.   
 
[The Uttar Pradesh Intoxicating Liquor (Objectionable Advertisements) Act, 1976] 
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STATEMENT OF OBJECTS AND REASONS 
The evil of drinking, specially its prevalence among backward and poor classes, 
and its evil effects on their economic condition are too well known. Article 47 of the 
Constitution provides that the State shall endeavour to bring about prohibition of the 
consumption of intoxicating drinks and drugs. The State Government have decided, as 
a further step towards total prohibition, to ban immediately all advertisements 
soliciting the use of or offering for sale any intoxicating liquor. 
2. As the State Legislature was not in session the Uttar Pradesh Intoxicating 
Liquor (Objectionable Advertisements) Ordinance, 1975, was promulgated on October 
25, 1975, to carry out the above purpose. 
3. In the meantime President’s rule was imposed in the State on November 30, 
1975 and on account of the commencement of the session of Parliament on January 5, 
1976, the said Ordinance would have ceased to operate on February 16, 1976. It was, 
therefore, repealed by the Uttar Pradesh Intoxicating Liquor (Objectionable 
Advertisements) Ordinance, 1976, promulgated on February 16, 1976. 
4. This Bill is being introduced to replace the said Ordinance No. 6 of 1976. 
 
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