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

114 

 

THE UTTAR PRADESH INTOXICATING LIQUOR (OBJECTIONABLE 

ADVERTISEMENTS) ACT, 1976
1 

[U. P. Act No. 3 of 1976] 
 

[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 place 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;  

(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;  

(c) "intoxicating liquor" does not include a drug as defined in the Drugs 

and Cosmetics Act, 1940.  

Prohibition of  

advertisements 

relating to  

liquor  

3. No person shall publish or cause to be published 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 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.  

 

1. For Statement of Objects and Reasons, see Uttar Pradesh Gazette 

Extraordinary dated March 31, 1976. 

 



115 

 

 

[The Uttar Pradesh Intoxicating Liquor (Objectionable Advertisements) Act, 1976]        [Section 4-7] 

 

 
Presumption 4. Where any advertisement relating to 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 

advertisements  

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.  

 

(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 with imprisonment which may extend to six months or with 

fine or with both.  

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 connivance of, or is attributable 

to any neglect on the part of any managing agent, secretary, treasurer, 

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.  



116 

 

[The Uttar Pradesh Intoxicating Liquor (Objectionable Advertisements) Act, 1976]     [Section 8-12] 

 

 
  Explanation-- For the purposes of this section --  

(a) "company" means any body 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 an 

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 

respects 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.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 to have been done or taken under this Act, as 

if this Act were in force at all material times.  
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