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2001 (11) TMI 1058
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....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 n....
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....rtainment or meeting to be held 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, hoard....
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.... sign board. Thereafter the appellants issued a notice dated 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 duri....
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..... The learned single Judge (Lentin, J.) had held that the board was merely 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 m....
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....lay, the manner of the display and the necessity for such display. Having regard to the facts of 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 &quo....
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....nce publicly esp. by a printed notice or through a radio or television broadcast, (2) : to call public attention to esp. by emphasizing desirable qualities so 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....