Case: Calcutta Municipal Corporation  Vs. East India Hotels Ltd.

The East India Limited (the company), respondent 1 in the appeal herein, owns and runs ``Oberoi Grand - five star hotel - in the city of Calcutta. The hotel had, at the relevant time, three restaurants within its premises called the Moghul Room, the Polynesia and the Princes. The question for our consideration is whether the company is required to pay the licence fee and obtain licences, to run the said restaurants, in terms of Section 443 of the Calcutta Municipal Act, 1951 (the Act). A Division Bench of the Calcutta High Court in appeal answered the question in the negative and in favour of the company. This appeal by the Calcutta Municipal Corporation (the Corporation) is against the judgment of the High Court.2. It is not disputed that prior to the present proceedings the company has always been obtaining licences from the Corporation under Section 443 of the Act in respect of the restaurants. Initially, the licence fee was Rs. 250 per annum per restaurant. The said fee was increased from time to time. The Corporation, by an order dated March 22, 1982, increased the licence fee to Rs. 15,000/- in respect of each of the places of amusement/recreation under Section 443 of the Act.3. The company challenged the increase of the licence fee to Rs. 15,000/- before the Calcutta High Court by way of a writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India. Before the learned single Judge three points were raised. It was contended that under Section 218 read with Schedule IV to the Act, the Corporation could not fix more than Rs. 250/- as licence fee. The learned Judge rejected the contention on the ground that the licence fee was levied under Section 443 of the Act to which Schedule IV to the Act has no relevance. The other points raised before the learned single Judge were that there was no valid order made by the Corporation and no opportunity of hearing was afforded to the company before enhancing the licence fee. Both these contentions were also rejected. As a consequence the learned single Judge dismissed the writ petition. The company filed appeal against the judgment of the learned single Judge which was heard by a Division Bench of the High

Reasoning:
8. It was not necessary for the Division Bench of the High Court to rely on the rule of ejusdem generis in this case. The provision of Section 443 of the Act are on the face of it clear and unambiguous and, as such, there was no occasion to call into aid the said rule. Section 443 clearly states that a theatre, circus, cinema-house, dancing hall or ``other similar place of public resort, recreation or amusement cannot be run without obtaining a licence from the Commissioner of the Corporation. It is thus obvious that apart from the four places of recreation/amusement specifically mentioned in the section ``any other place which comes within the mischief of the Act must be ``a similar place. The short question for our consideration, therefore, is whether the three restaurants run by the company in the premises of the hotel are similar to any of the four instances given under Section 443 of the Act.9. Since the question argued before the Division Bench was neither pleaded nor raised before the learned single Judge, the necessary facts required to support the said question were not directly forthcoming from the writ petition a copy of which is placed on the appeal-papers. In any case, the companys own case in the writ petition before the High Court was as underorder to be categorised as a Government classified Hotel, it should have certain basic features and amenities like Cabaret and evening entertainments etc. and unless these special facilities were available and continued to remain available your petitioners said hotel would not have been a Government classified hotel. Your petitioners crave leave to refer to the said question arise for classification at the time of hearing if necessary.Your petitioner state that the said hotel is a residential hotel and maintain a very high standard of service for twenty-four hours round the clock. It also provides entertainments during the evening, specially to cater for the tourist, foreign visitors but also earn foreign exchange for the country. The said hotel enjoys international reputation.....As stated above your petitioners run a hotel, in which lodging and meals including service of alcoholic beverages, both foreign liquor and Indian made foreign liquor are provided to the residents and customers from the Restaurants, Bars and other rooms within the hotel precincts. The said Restaurants cater for outsiders though mostly foreign tourists and the said Restaurants are being maintained and/or run in accordance with the International standards for which your petitioner have had to incur heavy overhead expenses as is the case in the matter of maintenance of lodging. These Restaurants and Bar are part and parcel of the Hotel though the same is not restricted to residents of the Hotel only.In the written statement filed before the High Court on March 22, 1983, the Corporation affirmed as underreference to paragraph 7 of the petition I dispute and deny allegations. I say that the hotel provides entertainment with all items of music amusement etc. and is famous for its cabaret any allegation contrary thereto are denied. I say that before entering into the cabaret room one has to purchase a special ticket for admission on a very high price.It is not disputed in the counter filed by the company in the special leave petition that the said restaurants in the evening provide piped music and sometimes vocal as well as instrumental music. The said restaurants also have dancing floors where the guests are allowed to dance to the tune of the music.12. The admitted facts, therefore, are that there are dancing floors in the restaurants where the residents and other guests entertain themselves. The entertainment is further provided by music including vocal music. At the relevant time the cabaret shows were also performed in the restaurant to entertain the guests. In the counter filed in this Court the company has, however, stated that cabaret shows are done on rare occasions like Christmas and New Year eve etc.13. A ``dancing hall cannot operate obtaining a licence under Section 443 of the Act. What is a dancing hall ? A dancing hall as understood in the ordinary parlance is a place where dancing floor is provided and live orchestra or music in any other form is played to entertain the guests who wish to come on the floor and dance. Dancing halls are peculiar to the Western social life. In the cosmopolitan cities in this country, even today, one finds number of dancing halls and discotheques where people go in the evenings and entertain themselves. We see no difference in a ``dancing hall and a restaurant where a proper dancing floor is provided and the guests entertain themselves by using the floor to the tune of live or recorded music. Simply because the recreation in the shape of dancing is provided along with a posh-eating place would not make it different than a ``dancing hall where drinks and eatables are also invariably provided. We are, therefore, of the view that the restaurants run by the company are places similar to the dancing halls and, as such, are places of public amusement covered by the provisions of Section 443 of the Act.