TIBREWAL, J. - (1.) IN main relief claimed by the petitioner in this writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution, is to restrain the respondents or their functionaries/subordinates from interfering in exhibiting/operating the films through VCRs and VCPs by him at his video parlour, namely, 'minakshi Video. '
(2.) THE petitioner is running a video parlour in village Mandrela, in the district Jhunjhunu and exhibits films on television by video. It is not in dispute that the petitioner charges money from the persons who are allowed to see the films, exhibited by the petitioner. According to the petitioner, he cannot be compelled to obtain a licence under the Rajasthan Cinemas (Regulation) Act, 1952 (hereinafter, to be referred to as "the Act") and there is no provision giving any control to the functionaries of the State Government if films are shown on television by video, and that the petitioner is being harassed unnecessarily by the functionaries of the State Government. THE learned counsel had also drawn my attention towards a letter dated Feb. 10, 1986 (Ann. l), issued by the Deputy Secretary to the Government of Rajasthan to the District Magistrate, Dholpur, in which it has been stated that no licence is required for exhibition of films through VCRs/vcps. Rajasthan Cinemas (Regulation) Act, 1952 was enacted to make provisions for regulating the exhibition of films by means of cinematograph. The word "cinematograph" has been defined in S. 2 of the Act, and it includes any apparatus for the representation of moving pictures or series of pictures. Sec. 3 of the Act provides that no person shall give an exhibition by means of cinematograph elsewhere than in a place licensed under the Act or otherwise than in Compliance with the conditions and restrictions imposed by such licence. As per section 4, the District Magistrate is a licensing authority. It further provides that the State Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, constitute for the whole or any part of the State of Rajasthan such other authority, as it may specify in the notification to be the licensing authority for the purpose of this Act. U/s. 7, the State Government and the District Magistrate have been given powers to suspend exhibition of films in certain cases, and during the period of suspension, the said film is deemed to be an uncertified film in the whole or part of the district of the State of Rajasthan, as the case may be. Section 8 provides penalties for contravention of Act and the Rules thereunder. Section 9 deals with the provision to revoke licence. According to this section, where the holder of a licence is convicted of an offence u/s. 7 or 8 of the Act or for the commission of any offence under the Rajasthan Entertainments and Advertisements Tax Act, 1957, the licence may be revoked by the licensing authority. The Parliament has also enacted 'cinematograph Act, 1952' to make provision for the certification of the films for exhibition and for regulating exhibitions by means of cinematograph. In this Act, also, the word 'cinematograph' has been defined to include any apparatus for the representation of moving pictures or series of pictures. Section 3 of the Act provides constitution Of a Board to be called 'the Board of Film Certification' and under section 5-A, the certification of the films is made by the Board. Section 7 provides punishment for the various acts enumerated in the provision and section 7-A provides the powers of search or seizure. Part III of the Act deals with the provisions to exhibition of films by means of cinematograph. Licence is granted u/s. 11 while section 12 provides the restrictions on the Licensing Authority for granting a licence. Then, section 15 provides the power of the licensing authority to revoke the licence if a person is convicted of an offence u/s. 7 or 14 of the Act. This Act was amended in the year 1984 by Cinematograph (Amendment) Act, 1984. By this Act, section 7 (1) (a) was substituted to provide more stringent punishment as under : - "he shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years, or with fine which may extend to one lakh rupees, or with both , and in the case cf a continuing offence with a further fine which may extend to twenty thousand rupees for each day during which the offence continues : Provided that a person who exhibits or permits to be exhibited in any place a video film in contravention of the provisions of sub- clause (i) of clause (a) shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than three months, but which may extend to three years and with fine which shall not be less than twenty thousand rupees, but which may extend to one lakh rupees, and in the case of a continuing offence with a further fine which may extend to twenty thousand rupees for each day during which the offence continues : Provided further that a court may, for adequate and special reasons to be mentioned in the judgment, impose a sentence of imprisonment for a term of less than three months, or a fine of less than twenty thousand rupees. " Some minor amendments were also made in clauses (b) and (c ). One of the objects of the amendment was that because of the video boom in the country, there were reports that uncertified video films were being exhibited on a large scale and a large number of video parlours sprung up all over the country who exhibited such films recorded on video tapes by charging admission fee from the clients. Among other things, this has also hit the Indian film industry very adversely, and it was felt that there should be more stringent punishment provided in the Cinematograph Act, 1952 to curb this practice of exhibiting uncertified Indian/foreign films by video parlours, etc.
(3.) IN the Copy Right Act, 1957, the following Explanation has been inserted in clause (7) of sec. 2 (a) by the Copyright (Amendment) Act of 1984, which came in force on 8th Oct. , 1984: "explanation - For the purposes of this clause, "video films" shall be deemed to be work produced by a process analogous to cinematography. " Section 52-A was also inserted in the principal Act. Sub-Section (2) of this new section reads as under : - " (2) No person shall publish a video film in respect of any work unless the following particulars are displayed in the video film, when exhibited and on the video cassette or other container thereof namely:- (a) if such work is a cinematograph film required to be certified for exhibition under the provisions of the Cinematograph Act, 1952, a copy of the certificate granted by the Board of Film Certification under section 5a of that Act in respect of such work; (b) the name and address of the person who has made the video film and a declaration by him that he has obtained the necessary licence or consent from the owner of the copyright in such work for making such video film; and (c) the name and address of the owner of the copyright in such work. " Then, after section 68, section 68-A was inserted, which reads as under: - "68a - Any person who publishes a record or a video film in contravention of the provisions of section 52a shall be punishable with imprisonment which may extend to three years and shall also be liable to fine. " Similarly, the Rajasthan Entertainments & Advertisements Tax Act, 1957 has been enacted to provide for the levy, by the State Government, of a tax in respect of admission to theatres, cinemas and other places of public entertainments and also a tax in respect of certain form of advertisements in such places in the State of Rajasthan and for the payment of compensation to the local authorities now levying such a tax. Section 4 of the Act provides levy of tax on the payment made for the admission at such places of entertainments. Section 6 of the Act provides that no person, other than a person who has to perform some duty in connection with an entertainment imposed upon him by any law or otherwise, shall be admitted for payment to an entertainment where the payment is subject to the entertainments tax, except with a ticket stamped with an impressed, embossed, engraved or adhesive stamp (not before used) issued by the Slate Government for the purpose of revenue and denoting that the proper entertainment tax has been paid. In other words, at a place of entertainment if a person is charged, entertainment tax/additional tax for entertainments have to be charged as provided in the Act. Then, section 10 of the Act provides offences and penalties for the various acts including for the Act of admitting any person to any place of entertainment in contravention of the provisions of sub-section (1) or rub-section (2) of Section 6. Section 3 (5) of the Act defines 'entertainment,' which includes any exhibition (show), performance, amusement, game or short to which persons are admitted for payment. ;