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Judgment
A.N. Venugopal Gowda, J.—The petitioner, a registered Society, established by its members, filed this writ petition, to direct the respondents not to insist upon the obtaining of licence under the relevant Licensing Order/s of the State Government or under the Karnataka Police Act, 1963 (for short, ''the Act'').
According to the learned advocate, the admission to the petitioner-club, is restricted to the members and that the petitioner is catering to the socio-cultural needs of its members only. Learned counsel contended that only lawful activities are being carried on in the premises of the petitioner and that no game(s) of chance or event(s) of public amusement are being conducted in the petitioner''s premises. He submitted that the game(s) played in the petitioner''s premises by its member(s) are lawful game(s) and the same do not require the obtaining of any licence under the Licensing Orders issued by the State Government or the law enforcing authorities, under the provisions of the Act. Learned counsel contended that the police authorities are insisting on licence being obtained under the provisions of the Licensing and Controlling of Places of Public Entertainment Order, 1962, promulgated under the Act and are unnecessarily interfering with the lawful activities being carried on in the petitioner''s premises, by way of conducting raid(s), surveillance etc. Learned counsel contended that the activities that are being carried on in the petitioner''s premises being only lawful activities and the game(s) played being lawful game(s), which do not require the obtaining of any licence, stated that a declaration be made holding that the obtaining of licence is unnecessary and for issue of a direction to the police authorities not to interfere with the lawful activities carried on in the petitioner''s premises.
Sri Vijaykumar A. Patil, learned HCGP, on the other hand contended that the respondents never interfered with the lawful activities of the members in the premises of the petitioner. He submitted that in the name of lawful game(s), there being reported acts of using the petitioner''s premises for other activities, which require the obtaining of licence/s, inspection was conducted, to check unlawful activities which has the potential of giving rise to public nuisance and/or offences. He submitted that by registering the club under the Karnataka Societies Registration Act, 1960, the members of the petitioner cannot carry on activities such as gambling, consumption of liquor and playing game(s) of chance etc., within the premises of the petitioner. Learned counsel further submitted that the action of the respondents being lawful, the petitioner cannot have any grievance against the inspection etc. conducted, when the report(s) of illegal activities being carried on, are received.
Perused the writ record and considered the rival contentions.
In Rama Recreation Association Vs. Commissioner of Police, , after referring to the definition of ''place of public amusement'' and place of pubic entertainment'' under Ss. 214 & 2(15) of the Act, it was held that a Club is a place in which only its members are permitted to engage in any diversion or recreational activities etc. and such an association need not take out a licence under the Licensing Order.
Following the said decision, in W.P. Nos. 13674-92/1993 decided on 09.07.1996, it was held as follows:
"These petitions are allowed by declaring that the petitioners are not liable to obtain licenses, if they do not admit members of public and if no gambling or games of chance are played in their clubs. However, it should be made clear that this will not come in the way of the police authorities inspecting the premises of petitioners to verify whether any illegal activities are carried on in the premises and to take necessary action, if there is any violation of provision of law."
There is no denial of the fact that there is mushroom growth of the societies like that of the petitioner and that the modus operandi is not what it appears to be on paper and bye-laws/memorandum of association etc. Regulatory mechanism is required, to check the illegal activities, if any, in the club(s)/association(s), registered as a society, under the Karnataka Societies Registration Act. When the club/association allows its member(s) to play games with stakes or make any profit or gain out of such games, police has the authority to invoke the provisions of the Act.
In Sanna Adike Belegarara Recreation Association and Others Vs. State of Karnataka and Others, , after observing that the scope for misuse of the premises and infringement of the objectives with which the societies are formed cannot be ruled out, having regard to the clear-cut definitions under Ss. 2(14) & 2(15) of the Act, it was held that the expression "Public", therein, cannot be reasonably construed to cover members of the club or their genuine guests. It was observed that the hallmark of a Member''s Club or an Association of members is that all the members have equal stake in it., the internal management vests with the members and those who are in effective management are agents or trustees of the members. The view expressed in RAMA RECREATION ASSOCIATION''S case (supra), was held to be correct. However, it was held that it is desirable to evolve a regulatory mechanism to ensure that the societies running the club(s) do not transgress their limits and indulge in objectionable activities. It was observed that the provisions of the Act and other allied enactments and the provisions of Cr.P.C., could be pressed into service to check the unlawful activities that may be indulged therein and to prevent public nuisance. It was further observed that the authorities concerned can very well verify whether the so-called Members'' Club is only a facade for public amusement and if there is enough material in support of such conclusion, action as per law can be taken. However it was made clear that the police authorities concerned should not take law into their own lands and harass even genuine club(s) carrying on bona fide activities by organizing frequent raids. It was further held that while surveillance and checks cannot be ruled out, the endeavour should be only to ensure that unlawful activities amounting to offences are not carried on in the guise of running recreational club(s) or association(s). It was further observed that the power of surveillance and raids should be used in bona fide exercise of the power to enforce the provisions of the Act, but not to harass genuine club(s) carrying on lawful activities and the writ petitions were accordingly disposed of.
In W.P. No. 39529/2012 and connected cases, decided on 22.11.2012, having regard to the Judgment in the case of RAMA RECREATION ASSOCIATION (supra), the writ petitions were disposed of by issuing the following directions:
The petitioners'' associations/societies immediately after their registration and/or at any point of time before they start running the club, shall approach the concerned police station with copy of their registration under the Act along with copy of the memorandum; the list of the members and lease agreement or any other document/s in respect of the premises of the club. They shall tender all these documents to the concerned police station with their covering letter;
The associations/societies shall update list of members submitted to the police after every three months, if there is any change in the list of members;
Learned counsel appearing for the petitioners'' associations/societies state that members of the society alone will have entry in the premises of the society and that the members shall not be permitted to introduce guests in the club. Their statements are accepted;
The respondents are directed not to interfere with the lawful recreational activities carried on by the members of the societies. This, however, shall not preclude them to take any appropriate action in accordance with law, if the petitioners'' associations/societies indulge in any unlawful/immoral activity;
The concerned police station shall also have liberty to visit the club premises periodically or on receipt of any information about their activities which could be termed as unlawful. It is needless to mention that police shall take care that their visit to the club shall not cause harassment to the members of the Managing Committee/the club.
With these observations, petitions are disposed of."
In DURGAPARAMESHWARI RECREATION ASSOCIATION Vs. GOVERNMENT OF KARNATAKA AND OTHERS, W.P. No. 13021/2013 decided on 19.03.2013, it was held that the respondents should not interfere with lawful activities of the petitioner-club. However, it was made clear that the respondents are permitted to take action in accordance with law, in case, the petitioner indulges in any unlawful activity. Such an order was passed taking into consideration an Order dated 09.11.2006 passed in W.P. No. 11843/2006, between M/s. SHIVA ASSOCIATION Vs. STATE OF KARNATAKA AND OTHERS.
In my view, all the legal points raised by the learned advocates stand covered by the Orders/Judgments referred to hereinabove and hence, a further examination of the contentions is unnecessary.
Hence, it is ordered as follows:
(i) The petitioner shall install within a period of six weeks, CC TV cameras, at all the places of access to its members and also at all the places, wherein game(s) is/are played by the members. The CC TV footage of at least prior 15 days'' period shall be made available by the petitioner to the police, as and when called upon to do so.
(ii) The petitioner shall issue identity card(s) to all its member(s), which shall be produced by the member(s), when called upon by the police, during the raid(s) and surveillance etc.
(iii) The petitioner shall not allow any non-member(s) or the guest(s) of the member(s), to make use of its premises for the purpose of playing any kind of games or recreational activities.
(iv) The petitioner shall not permit any activity by any of its member(s), by indulging in acts of amusement, falling within the definition of Ss. 2(14) & 2(15) of the Act and shall not permit any game(s) of chance as per explanation (II) of Sub-section (7) of Section 2 of Karnataka Police Act, 1963. The member(s) shall not be allowed to play any kind of game(s) with stakes or make any profit or gain out of the game(s) played.
(v) The petitioner shall put proper mechanism in place and shall ensure that no game(s) is played in any unlawful manner by the member(s). If the police find that game(s) played is contrary to any law and in violation of the settled practice, it is open to them to take action against petitioner and the offenders, in accordance with law.
(vi) The jurisdictional police shall have liberty to visit premises periodically and/or on receipt of any information about any unlawful activity being carried on in the petitioner''s premises.
(vii) The respondents are directed not to interfere with the lawful recreational activities carried on by the members of the petitioner-Club/Association.
(viii) It is made clear that this order would not come in the way of the jurisdictional police invoking the provisions of the Act and taking action in accordance with law, if the member(s) of the petitioner are found to have indulged in any unlawful or immoral activities.
Petition is disposed of accordingly with no order as to costs.