Legal Aspects of Events in India

Name: Ashton Souza

Course: Legal Aspects of Events

A report on the legalities faced by event management companies

while organizing events.

Introduction: As with any business, it is important as it is hated to have laws that govern it. So events too have to be governed by laws and taxes. However special laws have not been formulated since Event management is not deemed as an industry and the general laws given below effect the Event management companies while they conduct their events.

Legalities faced by event management companies while organising events:

Permission: has to be obtained from authorities before starting an event. For an event to be held in a village a letter has to be forwarded to the village- panchayat or mamladar requesting for permission.

For an event at the district level permission has to be taken from the respective district collector. Upon receiving the letter the collector forwards the letter to the local police for clearance and if all the norms are met the clearance is given.

Traffic police: Permission has to be obtained from the traffic police. If they feel that the event will not jeopardize the traffic flow then they will give clearance.

Private property: Permission needs to be taken if the event will be held in private property through means of contract. If the permission is not taken and the event is held in private property then it is termed as encroachment or criminal trespass and the guilty can be booked under section 441 and 447 of IPC which defines trespass which entails a punishment of up to 3 months of imprisonment depending on the nature of trespass. The guilty can also be booked by the civil court and a fine of Rs 500 will have to be paid if found guilty.

Pollution control board: Permission needs to be obtained from the pollution control board located in Junta house for any event that will be organized in Goa especially out door events. Although this is a norm many do not follow it. The pollution control board monitors sound, air, wet and dry waste pollution. For any event organized in Goa a maximum of 60 decibel sound is allowed if it exceeds or pollution regulation rules or environmental pollution act is disobeyed then the company or individual can be fined depending on the nature of violation and the entities equipments an also be seized.

Labour: The event management company has to pay a minimum of 120 Rs as wages for an 8 hour shift according to payment of wages act. (The government wants to increase the said amount to 160) .The worker has to be compensated for overtime. Factories act defines working hours and if the company does not adhere to this then they will lose their license due to the action taken by the Factories act. However If a worker is not competent enough then salary can be deducted under employment standing orders act. The reasons why salary can be deducted should be displayed on the notice board however it the reasons for deduction should comply with employment standing order act.

Advertisements: An event management company cannot put up advertisements that defame the state or cannot spread messages through their events that defame the state. It is called sedation. If the state is defamed then the entity is liable under section 124A of the IPC.

Public nusance: If the event has created inconvenience to the public then a fine of Rs 200 may be collected from the company. The amount is only 200rs because the law was passed way back in. The show can also be stopped if the show is a nuisance for the public. (E.g. Rakhee Sawant performance was stopped by the police)

Food and drinks: if adulterated drinks or food is served then the guilty can be booked under prevention of food adulteration act. If found guilty under this act the licenses of the caterer can be withheld or the guilty can be booked under section 270 to 275 of the IPC which entails 6 months to 1 year imprisonment.

Security: If the security staff of an event management company is held guilty of man- handling a person then the company has to pay in between 5000rs to 60000rs