TMI Blog2001 (11) TMI 1058X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 328 and 328A of the Mumbai Municipal Corporation Act, 1888. 2. The respondent runs a restaurant by the name ASHOK RESTAURANT AND BEER BAR . Above the entrance of the restaurant is a neon sign board. This sign board is approximately 3' x 4' and is wider than the entrance. The sign board bears the word ASHOK in the centre : a little below, on left side is the word RESTAURANT and to the right words BEER BAR . Between these two is an artistic sign depicting two hands joined in the traditional Namaste . The whole thing is an illuminated neon sign board. 3. The only question before us is whether the appellant Municipal Corporation for Greater Mumbai was right in treating the said illuminated neon signboard as an advertisemen ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... upon or in the same; or to the trade or business carried on by the owner of any tram-car, omnibus or other vehicle upon which such advertisement is exhibited; (c) ..... (d) ..... 4. Under The policy guideline on grant of permission for display of advertisements by means of hoardings, neon-signs, balloons, etc. , advertisement is defined under C as follows :-- C. -- STATUTORY PROVISIONS : 1. ..... 2. ..... 3. Advertisement may be taken to mean any device or representation put up on any premises in the nature of advertisement, announcement or direction by means of word, letter, model or sign and which is visible from some point of any street, and includes posters, hoardings, illuminated signs, direction boards, boards ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 5th June, 2000 requiring the respondent to take permission upon payment of necessary charges. It is this notice that is challenged in the present writ petition. 7. The learned single Judge has allowed the writ petition taking the view that the signboard in question only indicates to the consumer the place and the products which is available and therefore does not amount to an advertisement. He further held that the display of the board naturally and incidentally lead to sale of the product and service in the restaurant but that by itself could not make it an advertisement. According to the learned single Judge the illumination is merely to enable the public to read the board during night hours. The learned Single Judge has further obser ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ely an indication of the location of the petrol pump and not an invitation to the general public or the motorists to purchase the product. The division bench observed that whether a particular sign or sign board will amount to an advertisement will depend on several factors including nature of the thing advertised, the class of its consumers or users, the method and manner of its sale or distribution, the location of the selling or distributing establishment, the need for and the intention behind the placing of the sign or sign boards, the site where the sign board is fixed or placed, the size, the method and the manner of its display, etc. It is further held that what may amount to an advertisement in one case may not be so in another case ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... that case the learned Judge came to the conclusion, that the words GLAXO and BDH in the illuminated sign board in the building amounted to an advertisement and cannot be accepted as a mere direction for the benefit of potential visitors at night who may otherwise miss the company's premises. We are of the view that the fact in the case before the learned single Judge are apposite to the facts in the present case and the illuminated signboard in question is liable to be regarded as an advertisement. 11. It is important to consider the meaning of the term advertisement . The discussion under the heading ADVERTISING Encyclopaedia, to be found in Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1969 Edition Vol. I, page 179, read as under:-- Adverti ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... as to arouse a desire to buy or patronize. For the word advertisement the said dictionary goes on to indicate the meaning as follows :-- 1 : the action of advertising : a calling attention to or making known : as a obs : WARNING, ADMONITION, b obs : an informing or notifying : NOTIFICATION c : a calling to public attention : PUBLICITY. 2a : archaic : a statement calling attention to something : NOTICE, b : a public notice : esp : a paid notice or announcement published in some public print (as a newspaper, periodical, poster, or handbill) or broadcast over radio or television. 12. On a plain construction of Section 328 reproduced (supra) we find that in term permission of the Municipal Commissioner is not required in respe ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
|
