 the prize compe1'n'ions bdj, 1955(as in'i'roducbd in lolt sabiia)     the prize competitions bill, 19s5 (as introduced in lok sabha)a bill to provide for the control and regulation of prize competition • whereas it is expedient to provide for the control and regulation of prize competitions; and whereas the legislatures of the states of andhra, bombay and patiala and east punjab states union have passed resolutions in 5 tenns of clause (1) of article 252 of the constitution in relation to the above-mentioned matter and matters ancillary thereto in 10 far as such matters are matters enumerated in list ii in the seventh schedule to the constitution; be it enacted by parliament in the sixth year of the republic 10 of india as follows:-1 (1) this act may be called the prize competitions act, 1955 shott title extent and (2) it extends to the states of andhra, bombay and patial and commencement east punjab states union and all part estates (3) it shall come into force on such date as the central govern-i' ment may, by notification in the official gazette, appoint definitions 2 in this act, unless the context otherwise requires,-(a) 'licensing authority' means any officer or authority appointed by the state government, by notification in the official gazette, for the purpose of granting licences under this 20 act; (b) 'money' includes a cheque, postal-order or money-order; (c) 'prescribed' means prescribed by f\lles tnadeunder this act;  (d) 'prize competition' means any competition (whether called a cross-word prize competition, a missing-word prize competition, a picture prize competition or by any other name) in which prizes are offered for the solution of any puzzle based upon the building up, arrangement, combi-s nation or permutation, of letters, words or figures interpretation 3 for the purposes of this act,-(a) references to printing shall be construed as including references to writing and other modes of representing or  reproducing words in a visible form; and 10 (b) documents or other matters shall be deemed to be distributed if they are distributed to persons or places within or outside the territories to which this act extends and the word 'distribution' shall be construed accordingly prohibition of 4 no person shall promote or conduct any prize competition in is ~r: w~ which the total value of the prize (whether in cash or otherwise) to prize offered be offered in any month exceeds one thousand rupees exeecda one ~oulldd rupees a month licensing of 5 no person shall promote or conduct any prize competition in ~ti=;here which the total value of the prize (whether in cash or otherwise) to the prize be otjered in any month does not exceed one thousand rupees unless ~o ~!:~~one he has obtained in this behalf a licence granted in accordance with thoqsand ru- the provisions of this act and the rules made thereunder pees a month licences for 6, (1) every person desiring to obtain a licence referred to in ~~:~-section 5 shall make an application in writing to the licensing authority in such form and manner as may be prescribed 2s (2) on the receipt of such application, the licensing authority, after making such inquiry as it considers necessary, snau, by order in writing, either grant the licence or refuse to l(i'ani the licence (3) where the licensing authority refuses to grant a licence it shall record a brief statement of the· reasons for such refusal and 30 furnish a copy thereof to the applicant (4) the fees on payment of which the period for which, the conditions subject to which, and the form in which, a licence may be granted shall be such as may be prescribed promoters of 7 every person who promotes or conducts a prize competition in 3s ~ com~ti- accordance with the provisions of this act and the rules made there-!:n~~ ani under shall keep accounts relating to such competition and submit tubmit ththe to the licensing authority a statement of accounts in such form and same to e h  al be 'bed iicensm, at sue lllterv 5 as may prescfl  authority • (1) the licensing authority may, after giving the holder of any powertd licence under this act a reasonable opportunity of being heard, =~~i:n'u,­cancel or suspend the licence on anyone or more of the following eel grounds, namely:-5 (a) that there has been a breach of any of the conditions subject to which the licence was granted; (b) that the holder of the licence has contravened aiiy of the provisions of section 7 (2) whenever a licence is cancelled or suspended the licensing 10 authority shall record a brief statement of the reasons for such cancellation or suspension and furnish a copy thereof to the person whose licence has been cancelled or suspended 9 if any person promotes or conducts any prize competition in penalty for contravention of the provisions of section 4 or section 5, he shall be ~!i~=, or is punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three 1d>:~ri~ com- petition 1d months, or with fine whlcfi may extend to one thousand rupees, or contravention with both o! the provi-sions of sections 4 and s 10 if any person liable under section 7 to keep accounts or to penalty for submit statements of accounts fails to keep accounts or to submit ::r::~~~p 20 statements of accounts as required -by that section or keeps accounts account •• or submits statements of accounts which are false and which he either knows or believes to be false or does not believes to be true, he shall be punishable with fine which may extend to five hundred rupees, but nothing contained in this section shall affect the pro-2s visions contained in section 8 11 if any person with a view to the promotion or conduct of any penalty for prize competition in contravention of the provisions of this act or i~~~~ in connection with any prize competition promoted or conducted in with prize contravention of such provisionscompetitions 30 (a) prints or publishes any ticket, coupon or other document for use in the prize competition; or (b) sells or distributes or offers or advertises for sale or distribution, or has in his possession for the purpose of sale or distribution any ticket coupon or other document for 35 use in the prize competition; or (e) prints, publishes or distributes or has in his possession for the purpose of publication or distribution,-(i) any advertisement of the prize competition, or (ii) any list (whether complete or not) of prize winners in the' prize competition, or 40 tiii) any luch matter descriptive of, or otherwise reiating to, the prize competition as bl calculated to act as an inducement to persons to participate in that prize competition or any other prize competition; or (d) brings, or invites any person to send, into the territories to s which this act extends, for the purpose of sale or distribution any ticket, coupon or other document for use in, or any advertisement of, the prize competition; or (e) sends, or attempts to send out of the territories to which this act extends any money or valuable thing received in 10 re8pect of the sale or distribution of any ticket, coupon or other document for use in the prize competition; or (/> uses any premises or causes or knowingly permits any premises to be used, for purposes connected with the promotion or conduct of the prize competition; or is (g) causes or procures or attempts to procure any person to do any of the above-mentioned acts, he shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three months or with fine which may extend to five hundred rupees, or with both, 20 lz (1) if any person guilty of an offence under this act is a company, every person who at the time the offence was committed was in charge of, and was responsible to, the company, as well as the company, shall be deemed to be guilty of that offence and shall be liable- to be proceeded against and punished accordingly: 2s provided that nothing contained in this sub-section shall render any such person liable to any punishment providea 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 30 (2) notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1), whel'e an offence under this act has been committed with the consent or connivance of, or is attributable to any neglect on the part of, any director, manager, secretary or other officer of the company, such director, manager, secretary or other officer shall also be deemed to 35 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 a body corporate and includes a firm or other association of individuals; and 40 (b) 'director' in relation to a firm means a partner in the firm 5 13 the licensing authority may-power of ( ) , t' d t' , uc:ensidi a require any person promo mg or con uc mg a prize com- authority to petition to produce before it the accounts and other docu- call for and  nspect8c-ments kept by such perlon or to furnish to it such other counts and infonnation relating to the prize competition as it may documents require; (b) inspect at all reasonable times the accounts and other documents kept by such person it (1) it shall be lawful for any police officer not below the rank power of entry 10 of sub-inspector authorised by the state government in this behalf and learch by general or special order in writing,-(a) to enter, if necessary by force, whether by day or night, with such assistants as he considers necessary, any premises which he has reason to suspect, are 6eing used for 15 purposes connected with the promotion or conduct of any prize competition in contravention of the provisions of this act; (b) to search the premises and the persons whom he may find therein; 20 (c) to take into custody and produce before a magistrate all such persons; and (d) to seize all things found therein which are intended to be used or reasonably suspected to have been used in connection with such prize competition, 25 (2) all searches under this section shall be made in accordance v of 1898 with the provisions of the code of criminal procedure, 1898 15 where any newspaper or other publication contains any prize forfeifure oc competition or any advertisement in relation tnereto in contraven- :d'rucli-' tion of the provisions of this act, the state government may, by catio,!" 30 notification in the official gazette, declare every copy of the news- ~~~:pe_ paper and every copy of the publication containing the prize com- titions, petition or the advertisement, to be forfeited to government 16 any person aggrieved by the decision of the licensing authority appeals refusing to grant a licence or cancelling or suspending a licence 35 may, within such time as may be prescribed, prefer an appeal to the state government and the decision of the state government on such appeal shallbe final 17, the licensing authority and any other officer acting under licen8~ this act shall be deemed to be public servants within the meaning :~h:h~ x,l'n of 1860 an of section 21 of the indian penal code offia;rs to be , pubbcservanta juriadicuoil 18 no court inferior to that of a presidency magistrate or a to try of[enc:es magistrate of the first class shall try any offence under this act protection oc action taken under thi, act 19 no suit, prosecution or other legal proceeding shall lie against the licensing authority or any other officer of the government for anything which is in good faith done or intended to be done under s this act or the rules made thereunder power to make rules 2t (1) the state government may, by notification in the official gazette, and subject to the condition of previous publication make rules for carrying out the purposes of this act (2) in particular, and without prejudice to the generality of the 10 foreging power, such rules may provide for all or any of the following matters, namely:-(a) the form and manner of applicati~n for a licence and the fees, if any, for such ~pplication; (b) the fees on payment of which, the period for w1uch, the i, conditions subject to which and the form in which, a licence may be granted; (c) the form in which and the intervals at which statements of accounts shall be submitted to the licensing authority; (d) the time within which an appeal against a decision of the 20 , licensing authority may be preferred to the state government; (e) any other matter which is fo be or may be prescribed  statement of objects and reasonscrossword puzzles and similar competitions have of late been increasing at an alarming rate though they purport to be games of skill they really provide a form of gambling to the public these competitions have a deleterious effect on large sections of the people the object of this bill is to remove this evil, permitting at the same time reasonable scope for competitions which are mainly games of skill and intelligence, and which provide innocent amusement without encouraging the gambling spirit 2 the subject matter of the proposed legislation falls within entry 34 in list ii of the schedule vii to the constitution (state list) the state legislatures of bombay, andhra and patiala and east punjab states union have passed resolutions under article 252 empowering parliament to make a law on the subject the bill when passed will become applicable to these states and to all part c states and to uie andainan'and nicobar islands it will also become applicable to such part a and part b states (except jammu and kashmir) as may pass resolutions under the said article adopting the act g b pant new delhi; the 2~th august, 1955  memorandum regarding delegated legislationsub-clause (1) of clause 20 of the bill empowers the state government to make rules for carrying out the purposes of the act the matters in relation to which such rules may be made have been enumerated in sub-clause (2) of that clause these matters are matters of administrative detail necessary for the day-to-day ad-:-ministration of the act and deal with such things as the form and manner of an application for a licence, the fees on payment of which and the period for which and the conditions subject to which a licence may be granted, the time within which an appeal against a decision of the licensing authority may be preferred to the state government and so on the delegation at legislative power is thus of a normal type a bill to provide for the control and regulation of prize competitions (shri gooind ballahh pant, minister of home affairs;)  gipd-lad-867 ls-7-9-5s-175° 