VED GUPTA v. APSARA THEATRES

Citation: [1983] 3 S.C.R. 575

Court: Supreme Court of India

Bench: D.A. DESAI, V. BALAKRISHNA ERADI

Case summary

454 of 1981 relates to the legality and correctness of the procedure adopted by the High Court in allowing the Letter Patent Appeal in the manner indicated above....

Judgment text

VED GUPTA v. ; APSARA THEATRES August 11, 1983 [D. A. DESAI AND V. BALAKRISIINA BRAD! , JJ. J, Jammu and Kashmir (Cinematograph) Act, 1989 (1933 A. D. }-Licence for exhibition ofcinematograph films in a theatre-Whether it constitutes an interest attached to the pren1ises in which cinematogra"ph is installed? -When premises and cinematograph are owned by a partnership and the licence is heldby a partner in his individual capacity, whetherthe partnership firm acquires anyinterest in the licence.? - Whether s. 6Flends support to such a view? The appellant, purporting to Act On behalf of a partnership consisting of himself, Todar Mal and Krishan Kumar, applied for and obtained permission in his individual capacity to construct a cinema theatre on a plot of land which was taken on lease jointly by all the three of them after the application for ·the permission was made but before the same was granted.

They entered into partnership along with 11 others for carrying on the business of constructing and running a cine1na the~tre and the deed of partnership contained a clause that the pJot ofland -~s well as the permission obtained for constructing the theatre shall be the property of the firm. On completion of the constructio. D. the appelJant applied for, in his own name, and obtained in his personal capacity, a licence to exhibit cinematograph films at the Theatre. The partnership was re. constituted on retirement of two partners and the new deed executed by the remaining partners also contained a clause that the firm shall have the right to operate the licence. An application for inclusion of the names of Todar Mal . and Krishan Kumar in the licence was rejected by an order of the Licensing • > Authority who held that the appellant was the sole licensee and the said order became final. Another application for renewal of the.

licence in the name of the Theatre on the ground that the appellant had been expelled from the partnership was also rejected by an order of the Licensing Authority_which was not challeni:;ed. Thereafter when, in a suit instituted for a declaration that the licence was the property of the firm, the trial court issued an injunction restrain· ing the appellant from interfering· with the possession and running of the Theatre by some of the partners of the firm, the appellant wrote to the Licensing Authority disclaiming responsibility for any acts of commission or omi6sion committed by others in the~premises of the Theatre. The Licensing Authority, acting on a report from the police that films were being exhibited in the Theatre by persons other than the licensee, ordered suspension of exhibition of films at the Theatre. A writ petition chaUenging the validity of this order filed in the name of the Theatre was dismissed by a Single Judge of the High Court.

In the Letters Patent Appeal heard by a Division Bench consisting of the Acting Chief Justice anoth,er Judge of the High Court the Acting Chief Justice held that the impugned order was void but the other Judge agreed with the vie~ of the Single Jud$e who had d,ismlssed the petition earlier. In view ef the divergence of opinion, the maiter was referred to the only other Judge available in the High Court, but he having declined to hear the same for good reason, the Division Bench decided under sub-r. (3) of r. 23 of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court Rules, 1975 that the view of the Senior Judge should pre vail and accordingly the Letters Patent Appeal was allowed in conformity with ·the view taken by the Acting Chief Justice. This resulted in the anomalous situation that as against the view concurrently taken by two Judges of the High Court, the opinion of the Acting Chief Justice which was really the minority . B view was allowed to prevail.

The reasons given by the Acting Chief Justice for the view he took were : (i) that a licence under the provisions of the Jammu and Kashmir (Cinematograpb) Act is granted for premises permanently equipped for cinemtograph exhibition in the name of the owner/manager of the cinem_atographs used in the premises and hence, where the licer,sed premises including the cinematograph used therein belongs to a partnership and one of the partnerS. obtains a licence in bis separate name, the other partners automatically acquire an interest in the licence and that the privilege granted by the liceiising authority 11 ''must necessarily follow the title in sqch building and the cinematograph and that the provision contained in s.

6F lends support to this conclusion; (ii) that the partnership firm had a legal right in the licence which entitled it to notice and hea'ring under the Act before the licence was suspended; (iii) that inasmuch as the said procedure was not followed by the Licensing_ Authority, the impugned order was void and in violation of principles of natural justice; and (iv) that except for the power of revocation of licence embodied' in s. 6F and an implied power to suspend a licence pending proceedings for revocation, the Licensing Authority had no power to suspend the licence of . the Theatre under any other circumstances. Allowing the appeal, HELD : The provisions of the Act and the Rules conte1nplatc the grant , . of a licence to a person in respect of a 'place' where cinematogr_aphic apparatus have been installed. Under the Rules and the terms. and conditions of the licence, the grantee thereof is the person answerable to the Licensing Authority for breach Or the obligations and conditions.

A licence granted under the Act is not analogous to a licence in the realm of real property law. It is, therefore, not possible to accept the view that the licence is a grant for the premises and constitutes an interest attached to the premises. The provision contained in s. 6F, far from supporting such a view, goes to show that the holder of a licence may be a person different from the owner or partner of a cinematograph. The object of that section is to empower the Licensing Authority to revoke the licence in the event of commission of an offence under s: 6 or 6E not merely by the licensee but also by . any person who inay be in actual charge· of the cinematograph. [588 H, 589 A-B, G-H,"590 A] 2. (a) In proceedings to which the Licensing Authority was a patty, the High Court as well this Court h . ·APSARA THEATR£S 577 on behalf of the firm. The firm and its partners are bound by the said decision.

It is, therefore, unnecessary to deal with the reasons statrd ·by the Acting -A Chief Justice of the High Court in support of his concusion that the licence was granted to the 3. ppellant in his individ~al capacity as representing the partnership. [588 D-E] (b) The appellant was the sole licence in respect of the Theatre. By virtue ofr. 88 {v) as well as cl. 11 of the licence issued, there was a clear prohibition against the licensee frow transferring, assigning, sub-letting or otherwise transferring ·the licence without the permission of the Licensing Authority and also against his allowing aDy other person to exhibit films at the licensed place without obtaining such permission. The firm. of partners had no right whatever to exhibit cinematograph films at the theatre without a licence.

It was the plain duty of the Licensing Authority to Cnsure that exhibition of films was not conducted in the Theatre by unauthorised persons and the impugned order ·is obviously one passed by him in the discharge of the said function. The principles of natural justice are not attracted to such a situation. The rosition would have been different if it was a case of even temporary suspension. of the licence without notice to the licensee. [590 D, F, 591 A, 592 A, C-F] (c) The Licensing Authority had the power to make the impugned order suspending the exhibition of films in the Theatre by persons other than the licensee. The power to control the exhibition of cinematography by grant of . licence and the power to administer and enforce the provisions of the Act and the rules included the implied power to take all steps necessary to ensure the due obserVance of the terms of the statute. the rules and the· conditions of licence.

The view expressed in the impugned judgmeilt of the Hi8h Court that the Licensing Authority had no pOwer to make the impugned order was based on the fallacious·'ass. umption that what was done under the 'impugned order was to suspend the licence while, in fact, what was done was only to suspend the exhibition. of . filin~ in the Theatre by perSons other than the licensee. [593 D-F, BJ · 3. Although there are Very serious doubts about ihe corre~tne. ss of the view taken by the Division Bench of the High Court regarding the applicability of r. 23 (3) of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court Rules, 1975 to the instant case, it is not necessary to consider that question in view of the conclusion arrived at on the merits of the case. [586 F-G] CIVIL APPELLATE JUR! SDJCT! ON: Civil Appeals No. 2611 and 2. 611-A of 1981. From the Judgment and Order dated the ist July, 1981 of the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir in L. P. A. No. I of 1981 and .. C. M. P. No. 454 of 1981. A. K. Sen and G. L.

Sanghi, Vineet Ku'mar and Devinder Gupta for the Appellant.. S78 SUPREME COURT )UlPORTS 11983) 3 s. c. R. D. D. Thakur, S. N. Kacker and R. P. Bhatt, for respondent in 2611/81. . Soli. J. Sorabjee, K. K. Venug9pa/ and R. P. Bhatt, for respondent in 2611-A/81. • E. C. Agarwa/a, S. P. Gupta; R. Salish, V. K. Pandita and R. P. Sethi for respondent in 2611-2611-A. L. N. Sinha, Attn. Genl. · A/tof Ahmad and Irfan Ahmad for respondent no. 2. , S. Ghosh and A. K. Nag for the intervener. The Judgment of the Court was delivered by BALAKRJSHNA ERAD1, J. ,When the hearing of these appeals was. concluded on November 11, 1982, after elaborate arguments hiid been addressed by learned counsel appearing on both sides, we announced our decision aliowing the appeal (C. A. No. 2611 of 198i) by passing the following order : "The appeal is allowed. The Judgment and order of the Division Bench of the High Court presided over by learned Acting Chief Justice is set aside and one by learned Single Judge, Dr.

A. S. Anand, is restored and consequently the Writ Petition No. 436 of' 1980 filed by Respondents in the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir stands dismissed. No order as to costs of hearing in this Court. The legal consequence of this order will take effect from November 16, 1982. All interim orders passed by this Court shall stand vacated from the midnight between 15th and 16th November, 1982. ' Reasons will follow. " We now proceed to state in this judgment the· reaso. us in support of our ! lfor~said conc! u~iqn, '. :; VED il~P'l'A v. APSARA THEATRES (Ba/akrishna Eratii, J. ) 579 In July, 1966, the appellant Ved Gupta decided to embark upon a venture to construct and operate an air-conditioned Cinema in a· plot of land which he proposed to take on lease in Gandhi Nagar, Jammu, in Collaboration with two osher persons, namely, Todar Mal and Kishan Kumar.

Accordingly, on July22, 1966, Ved Gupta purporting to act -011 behalf of a partnership consisting of himself and the two persons aforementioned (as a matter of fact, no partnership had been constituted at all by that date), applied to the District Magistrate, Jammu, under . soction 3 of the Jammu and Kashmir (Cinematograph) Act_, 1989 (1933 A. D. ) (herein-after referred to as the Act) for permission· to construct a modern Cinema Hall at the proposed site, a detailed description of which was furnished in the plan annexed to the application. Shri Ved Gupta was informed by the District Magistrate, Jammu by his Memo (Annexure·B) that the Government bad approved the construction of a Cinema Hall at the proposed site and had granted the requisite permission in his favour as per 'letter dated· September 11, 1967, issued by the Secretary to Government, General Department. .

From Annexure-B, it would ;ippear that the permission so granted was in favour of Ved Ved Gupta in his individual capacity and not as the representative of any firm. . ' In the meantime, by a deed dated December 7, 1966, which· was ' registered on December 24, 1966; the plot in question was taken on lease jointly by Ved Gupta, Todar Mal and Krisban Kumar for a period of 40 years on the terms and conditions set out therein. There· after, under a deed dated July 15, 1969, the aforesaid three persons entered into a partnership. along with 11 others under the name and · style "Metro Theatres" for c;urying on the business of constructing and running a· modern air-conditioned Cinema in the site covered by ' the permission granted by the Government.

Clause 15 of the said deed provided that the site for construction of a Cinema which had been obtained on lease by Ved Gupta, Todar Mal and Krishan Kumar in their own names shall not be their personal property, but shall be the property of the partnership, and that the permission which Ved Gupta _had obtained from ihe Government for construe• tion. of the Theatre in the said plot shall be treated as the property of the partnership. By a subsequent· agreement executed by the 14 partners REME cotiRt REPORTS il983J 3 s. c. tt. property of the firm by virtue of clauses 13 and 18 of the partnership deed and since Ved Gupta had been expelled from the partnership and had thereby ceased to be connected with the firm, he did not have ( the possession of the premises and he was not entitled to claim a · renewal of the licence.

These ~ontentions · were ·repelled by the District Magistrate who held that the renewal of the licence could not be made in the name of any party other than th; original licensee, namely, Shri Ved Gupta, who had been declared to be the sole licen· see in respect of the Apsara Theatre by the proceedings of his predecessor dated December 29, 1977, which was confirmed in appeal by the State G9vernment and which had acquired finality between the parties by reason of the dismissal of the writ petition and the Special Leave Petition by the High Court and Supreme Court, respectively. In March, 1980 the licence for the Theatre was renewed by the District Magistrate in the name of Ved Gupta. · On April 27, 1979, a suit was instituted against Ved Gupta and seven others by seven of the partners including Krishan Kumar-for D, a declaration that the Cinema licence dated July 22, 1969, issued by.

the District Magistrate, Jammu (8th defendent) for exhibition of cinematographs in the building known as Apsara Theatre, Gandhi Nagar, Jammu, is the property of the firm Apsara Theatre and for a prohibitory injunction restraining ·defendants l to 7, nameiy, Shri Ved Gupta and six of the partners who were residing with him from interfering with the running of the Cinema by the plaintiffs and also for a prohibitory injunction against the District Magistrate (defen· dant 8) restraining him from interfering in any manner with the exhibition by the plaintiffs of cinematographs in the premises of Apsara Theatre. On the date of the institution itself, the District Judge, Jammu, issued an order of temporary injunction restraining defendants 1 to 7 from interfering with the possession and the running of the Theatre Apsara by . the plaintiffs. On being .

served with the order of injunction, Ved Gupta wrote to the District Magistrate on September 24, 1980 that it had b~come impossible for him to operate the Cinema li'cence "in view of the temporary injunction issued by the District Col! rt and since it is only the licensee who is held responsible under the. Act and the Rules for due compliance with all the terms and conditions of the· licence and answerab_le to the licensing authority for all commissions and omissions in the Cinema premises, he may be saved from any prosecution or other action· under law in the. capacity of licensee of the Apsara Theatre. in respect of any illegal acts or offences committed by others in the. said premises. On VED GUPTA v. APSARA THEATRES (Balakrisima EraJi, J.

) 583 September 26, 1980, the Superintendent of Police, Jammu City, reported to District Magistrate that on verification by the Sub· Inspector deputed for the purpose, it had been found that the cinematographs were being conducted in the Apsara Theatre by persons other than the licensee and the· Police had challaned the licensee under Section 6 of the Act. The Distrfot Magistrate ivas requested by the said letter that exhibition of cinematographs in the Theatre·may be suspended till the final· decision was rendered by the Court in favour of either of the parties. Acting"'on the aforesaid material brought to his notice, the District Magistrate passed the order (Annexure-J) dated September 26, 1980, directing that exhibi· tion of cinematographic films in Apsara Theatre will remain suspended until further orders.

The sole question arising· for determination in j· these appeals concerns the validity of the said order passed by the District Magistrate and hence, it will be convenient at this stage to reproduce the full text of the o_rder. It reads : · "Whereas it has been brought to my notice by Shri Ved Gupta, sole licensee, Apsara Theatre that the District and Sessions Judge, Jammu, has issued a . temporary injunction-against the exhibition of films by him iu the above-said theatre; And whereas the S. P. City by his letter No. liConf. dt. 16. 9. 80 has intimated that there was exhibition of films on25th September, 1980, in Apsara Theatre by persons other than the licensee; And ·whereas under the provisions of the Cinemato~ graph Act, read with rules, none other than licensee is permitted to exhibit films during the currency of the licence ";'ithout permission of the licensing authority; Now, therefqre, I, A.

Sahasranaman, District Magistrate, Jammu, hereby order that exhibition of films in Apsara Theatre will remain suspended till further orders. · This _order s a I comehi i~to force with immediate effect. " On Septembes 29, 1980, a writ petition -Writ Petition No. ". 436 of 1980-was filed in the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir by 584 Stii>Rm. iE COURT REPORTS Ii983) 3s. c. Ji.. M/s Apsara Theatre, seeking to quash the aforsaid order passed by the District Magistrate as being Hlegal, ultra vires and void. It was contended inter alia by the petitioner that there had been a gross violation of the principles of natural justice inasmuch as the petitioner-firm and its partners had not been given any notice or afforded hearing before the impugned order was passed.

·Another ground put forward by the petitioner was that the District Magistrate had no power to suspend the licence 'under any of the provisions of the Act or the Rules and that the only power vested in the licensing authority was to revoke the licence under Section 6-F of the Act and that too only if the conditions precedent mentioned in the said Section were found to exist. The learned Single Judge of the High Court Dr. Anand, J), by a well-considered judgment rejected the contentions of the petitioners and dismissed the writ petition. M/s Apsara Theatre represented by Krishan Kumar preferred a. Letters Patent Appeal-L. P. A. No. I of 1981 against the judgment ofthe learned Single Judge. That appeal was bear& by a Division Bench consisting of Mufti Baha·ud-din Farooqi, Acting Chief Justice and Mir, J. The two learned Judges comprising the Division Bench, however, . came to divergent conclusions. Mir, l agreed with the.

view expressed by the learned Single Judge that the District Magistrate· bad acted strictly in accordance with law in passing the impugned order and that the writ petition was devoid' of merit But, the Acting Chief Justice was of the view that where the licensed premises including the cinematographs used therein belonged to. a partnership and one of the partners had obtained a licence in his separate name, the other partners automatically acquired an interest in the licence. It wasfurther held by the Acting Chief Justice that the effect of the licence was that "it renders privilege the building· of the cinematographs used therein and the privilege must necessarily follow the title in such building and the cinematograph.

" On this reasoning, it was held by him that the plaintiff-firm had a legal right in the licence which entitled it to notice and hearing under the Act before the licence was suspended, and inasmuch as the said procedure has not been followed by the District Magistrate, the impugned order was void and in violation of the principles ·of natural justice. The learned Acting Chief Justice has further expressed the view that except only the power of revocation, embodied in Section 6·F of the Act and an implied power to suspend a licence pending the procee· · dings for such revocation, the District Magistrate bad no jurisdiction or power to suspend the licence of the Theatre under any other circumstances. Hence quite apart from the question of natural VED GUPTA v. APSARA THEATRES (Balakrishna Eradi, J. ) 585 justice, the impugned order was also held by the Acting Chief Justice to be one passed without jurisdiction on this ground also.

In view of the difference of opinion between the two learned Judges, the Letters Patent Appeal was referred to Kotwal, J. under Rule 23 (2) of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court Rules, 1975. It may be mentioned at this stage that at that' time, the High Court was functioning with a srength of only four Judges, and excluding· the learned Single' Judge who heard the writ petition and the two members of the Division Bench the Acting Chief Justice and Justice who comprised the Division Bench which heard the Letters Patent Appeal, Kotwal, J. was the only other Judge available in the High Court. Unfortunately, Kotwal, J expressed his inability to hear the Appeal on the ground that at one stage,· he had appeared as an Advocate for M/s Apsara Theatres in the course of the· earlier litigations lietween the parties concerning substantially the same matter.

Consequently, it became impossible for the Letters Patent Appeal being heard by a third Judge designated by the Chief Justice, as contemplated by Rule 23 (2). The matter was, therefore, placed before the Division Bench consisting of the Acting Chief Jmtice and Justice Mir as C. M. P. No. 454 of 1981 for consideration of the question as to what rule of procedure was applicable. The learned Judges took the view tha. t Rule 23 of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court Rules, 1975, squarely covered the situation that had arisen before them. Rule 23 is in the following terms : "23 . (! ) In the event of a difference of opinion among the judges composing any bench of the court, the decision shall be in accordance with the opinion of the majority of the Judges.

· (2) If the judges composing the bench are equally divided on any point, they shall state the point upon which they differ and the case shall then be heard upon that point by one or more of the other Judges designated for the purpose by the Chief Justice and such point shall f be· decided according to the opinion of the majority (if any) of the judges who have heard the case (including, those who first heard it). . · (3) If there is no such majority, then the decision shall be in accordance with the decision of the senior Judge except in. the case of an appeal from. a decree wher~ such decree shall be confirmed," ' ... '. In the opinion of the Divi. son Bench, the present case was governed by sub-rule (3) of Rule 23, and, consequently, the decision in the case had to be in accordance with the opinion of the senior Judg·~. Accordingly the Division Bench passed orders in C. M. P. No.

454 of 1981 that the Letters Patent Appeal will stand allowed in conformity with the view taken by the Acting Chief Justice in his judgment. ) This has resulted in the highly anomalous . situation that as against the view concurrently taken by the two Judges of the High Court, viz. Anand, J; and Mir, J. the opinion of the Acting Chief Justice which was. really the minority view has been allowed to prevail 'on the basis of the reasoning that the case was governed by sub-rule (3) of Rule 23. Aggrieved by the decision of the High Court, Ved Gupta has filed these appeals after obtaining special leave from this Court. Civil Appeal No. 2611 of 1981 is directed against the judgment of the learned Acting Chief Justice which has been treated as the final judgment in the Letters Patent Appeal and Civil Appeal No. 261 l·A of 1981 has been preferred against the ord~r passed by the Division Bench C. M. P. No. 454 of 1981. The sole question rais. ed 1n C. M. P. No.

454 of 1981 relates to the legality and correctness of the procedure adopted by the High Court in allowing the Letter Patent Appeal in the manner indicated above. Although we entertain very serious doubts about the correctness of the view taken by the Division Bench of the High Court regarding the applicability of Rule 23 (3) to the instant case, we do not . feel called upon to examine the said qnestion in depth or to pronounce upon it in this case in view of the conclusion arrived at by us on the merits of the case that the conclusious recorded by the Acting Chief Justice on the points that arose for decision in the Letters Patent Appeal cannot be legally sustained and that there was no justification for interference by the ·Division Bench with the judgment of the G. learned Single Judge, dismissing the writ petition.

in the judgment of the learned Acting Chief Justice, he has opened the discussion of the mertis of the case by an elaborate consideration of the question as to whether the licence in respect of 'the Apsara Theatre had been granted to Shri Ved Gupta in his individual capacity or as representing the partnership. In making this approach to the case, the learned Acting Chief Justice has VED GUPTA Y. APSARA THEATRES (Balakrishna Eradi, J. ) 587 wrongly Jost sight of certain crucial facts which clinch the issue. Admittedly, the licence in respect of the Apsara Theatre was granted by the District Magistrate in the sole name of Ved Gupta and in all the relevant columns of the document of licence, Ved Gupta has been shown as the licensee-and there is no mention at all of the furn or its partners.

An application filed by Shri Krishan Kumar for declaration that the licence was the property of the· firm and for inclusion of his name and that of Todar Mal in the said licence as joint licensees, was rejected by the District Magistrate by his order dated December 29, 1977. It was expressly declared in the said order that Ved Gupta was the sole licensee and that the mere fact that partnership had been entered into for running the cinema business did not mean that the firm was the licensee. The Appeal preferred -) · by Todar Mal against the order of the District Magistrate was dismissed by the concerned Minister of the State Government on April 26, 1978. Krishan Kumar had been joined as a party· respondent in that appeal. The legality of the aforesaid orders was challenged before the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir in Writ Petition No. 74 of 1978 filed by Todar Mal.

The District Magistrate and the State Government, whose orders were sought to be quashed, were the main respondents in this writ petition. That writ petition was dismissed by the High Court on May 9, 1978, S. L. P. Civil No. 3490 of 1978 filed by Todar Mal against the High'Court's order dismissing his writ petition was rejected by this Court on November 13, 1978. Krishan Kumar was a party to the writ petition in the High Court as well as to the Special Leave Petition in this Court. The declaration made by the District Magistrate Iha! Ved Gupta was the sole licensee and that Krishan Kumar or the Ihm could not be treated as licensees of the Theatre had thus beeome final. Subsequent to the dismissal of the Special Leave Petition· by this Court, Krishan Kumar made an application to the District Magistrate on April 19, 1979 for renewal of the licence in the name of the firm Apsara Theatre.

That application was dismissed by the District 'Magistrate as per his order dated April 21, 1979 that the renewal could not be made in the name of any party other than the original licensee, so long as there had not been any transfer of the licnce by the orginal licensee in favour of another with the sanction of the licensing authority. No steps were u;ken by Krishan Kumar to challenge the said order passed by the District Magistrate. From the facts set out above, it becomes· manifest that rightly Qr wronj! ly, the licensinll authoritr had !! ranted the licence in respect of the Apsara Theatre to Ved Gupta treating him as the sole licensee. The order of the licensing authority was confirmed on appeal by the State Government. The challenge raised by Todar Mal against the I er ofrevocation and unless the conditions precedent mentioned in the said Section are present, the licensing authority had no jurisdiction to suspend the licence.

As already observed by us, the impugned order is not one suspending the licence issued in respect of the Theatre. What was done thereunder is to suspend the exhibition cinematograph films in the Theatre by persons other than the licensee. The power to control the exhibition ( of cinematography by grant of licence and the power to administer and enforce the provisions of the Act and the Rules clearly. include the power to take all steps necessary to ensure the due observance of the terms . of the statute, the rules and the conditions of· the licence as otherwise the competent authority under the Act would have to be a helpless spectator when cinematograph film~ are publicly exhibited by persons other· than . the licensee.

The impugned order is one obviously passed by the District Magistrate in the exercise of his function of administering the provision of the Act and the Rules and the aforesaid implied power to take all incidental >teps necessary for effective enforcement of the statute. We fail to see how it can be said oil the . facts and circumstances of the case that the District Magistrate had no jurisdiction to pass the impugned order. It this becomes manifest that all the grounds stated by the Division Bench of the High Court for upsetting the judgment of the learned Single Judge, dismissing the writ petition, are incorrect· and unsustainable in law. Hence it was that we passed the Order dated November JI, 1982;allowing Civil Appeal No. 2611 of 1981 and setting aside the judgment of the Division Bench. Civil Appeal No. 261 l·A of 1981, which is directed against the ord~r passed in C. M. P.

No, 454 of 1981, is disposed·of as infructuous in view of our having set aside the judgment of the Division Bench A on the merits. We make it clear that the inter se rights and claims of Shri Ved Gupta on the one band and the firm and its ·partners on· the other in respect of the Apsara Theatre are left open to be decided in the civil suit that is said to be pending. B H. L. C. Appeal a/lowed. ,>· )