Section 8 in The Maharashtra Entertainments Duty Act, 1923
8. [ Power to enter place of entertainment for purposes of this Act. [Section 8 was substituted for the original by Maharashtra 7 of 1987, Section 11.]
(1)[Any officer duly authorized by the local authority] (hereinafter in this section called "the Inspecting Officer"), in respect of the area of his jurisdication, may enter any place of entertainment while the entertainment is proceeding or otherwise at any reasonable time with a view to carrying out an inspection to see whether the provisions of this Act or rules made thereunder are being complied with(2)The Inspecting Officer may require any proprietor to produce before him any accounts or documents relating to the entertainment conducted by him or to furnish any information relating to-(i)payments for admission, tickets or season tickets or complimentary tickets or any other articles and matters relating to such entertainment;(ii)the details of monthly expenses relating to conduct of the entertainment;(iii)the periodical including daily statements of sale of tickets sent by the proprietor to the distributor of films concerned; and(iv)details of orders for printing of the passes, tickets of the entertainment placed with the printing press concerned, as may be necessary for the purposes of this Act.(3)All accounts and documents of the nature referred to in sub-section (2) as well as documents containing information relating to entertainment conducted by the proprietor shall at all reasonable times be open to inspection by the Inspecting Officer and the Inspecting Officer may take or cause to be taken such copies or extracts therefrom or may place or cause to be placed such marks of identification thereon as appear to him to be necessary for the purposes of this Act.(4)The Inspecting Officer, may for the purposes of this Act, impound and retain in his custody for such period as he considers necessary any accounts or other documents and articles produced before him in any proceedings under this Act, after granting receipt for the same to the proprietor.(5)If the Inspecting Officer has reason to believe that any proprietor has evaded or is attempting to evade payment of duty due from him, he may, for reasons to be recorded in writing seize such accounts or documents or articles in the possession of the proprietor as may be necessary and shall grant receipt for the same and shall retain the same for such period as may be necessary in connection with any proceedings under this Act.(6)For the purposes of sub-section (3) or sub-section (5), the Inspecting Officer may enter and search any place of entertainment or business of any proprietor or any other place where the Inspecting Officer has reason to believe that the proprietor keeps or is for the time being keeping any accounts or documents relating to entertainment conducted by him or the printing press to which work of printing the tickets for the entertainment is entrusted by the proprietor, and may make a note or inventory of any articles or things found in the course of any search which, in his opinion, will be useful for or relating to any proceedings under this Act. Whenever a search is made by the Inspecting Officer under this sub-section, the provisions of the Code of Criminal procedure, 1973, shall, so far as may be, apply.(7)The proprietor of an entertainment shall give every reasonable assistance to the Inspecting Officer in the performance of his duties under this section.(8)if the proprietor of any entertainment or any other person prevents or obstructs entry of a duly authorised Inspecting Officer under sub-section (1) or fails to give any reasonable assistance, he shall, in addition to any other punishment to which he is liable under any law for the time being in force, be punished with fine which may extend to two thousand rupees.(9)Every Inspecting Officer shall be deemed to be a public servant within the meaning of section 21 of the Indian Penal Code.(10)The Inspecting Officer may request, in case of emergency, the Officer-in-charge of the Police Station having jurisdiction over the place of inspection or entertainment, to prevent any unauthorised use of place for entertainment or to establish law and order in the place of entertainment or to seek the records relevant for the purpose of enquiry in the place of entertainment or in any other place under this Act and such officer of the Police Station shall be bound to comply with the request;Provided that in case of non-availability of such an officer, the Inspecting Officer may request the Police Officer of the nearest Police Station to render the required assistance.]
