Panaji, Aug 4 (TOI): The high court of Bombay at Goa has held that a business carried on without obtaining a licence as per the law is against public policy and dismissed an appeal filed by a cable TV operator, who had provided the service in absence of a licence, claiming 32,000 from a customer.
Justice C V Bhadang observed "It would be obvious that when a particular act is regulated by a statute and the law prescribes licence by the competent authority and makes breach of the said provisions an offence, the business conducted in the absence of the licence, is clearly against public policy."
The appellant Beato D'Mello, proprietor of Ashirwad Star, Bainguinim, Old Goa, provided services of connection and input signal to M/s Satellite Linkers.
The appellants had claimed 32,000 as charges for the month of January 2008. De Mello produced before a trial court a licence dated March 13, 2006, which was for a period of 24 months from January 19, 2005, to January 18, 2007. The trial court dismissed his suit as he had no licence for January 2008.
In the district court, D'Mello produced a licence dated July 13, 2007, for a period between January 19, 2007, till January 19, 2008. The district court rejected his suit as he failed to prove that his business was legal for the month of January 2008. Subsequently, D'Mello approached the high court.
During the hearing of the case in the high court, advocate Ashwin D Bhobe, who appeared for one of the respondents, stated that it is obligatory for the cable operator to obtain a licence for conducting the business.
The appellants lawyer, Premanand A Kholkar submitted that mere absence of the licence, would not render the contract between the appellant and respondent void or against public policy.
The high court noted that even so far as the license dated July 13, 2007, is concerned, it does not pertain to the whole of the month of January 2008, as it is only up to January 18, 2008, and the claim of the appellant was for the entire month of January 2008.
While noting that a conjoint reading of Sections 3 and 16 of the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act 1995 would show that no person can operate a cable TV network unless he is registered as a cable operator under the Act, the high court observed, "Thus, the act which is enacted to regulate the operation of cable TV network not only, prohibits conduction of the business as a cable TV operator without licence, but, under Section 16 of the Act of 1995, conduction of such a business, without licence, is made a punishable offence."