The Meghalaya Intoxicating Liquor (Prohibition of Publication of Advertisement) Act, 1976 (Act 14 of 1976)

English — official source version

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MEGHALAYA 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 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 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 furnish 
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 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. 

 

 

 

 

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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 does 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 person 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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