Daijiworld Media Network – Mumbai

Mumbai, Jul 7: The Maharashtra government on Tuesday introduced a Bill in the Assembly to amend the Maharashtra Police Act, aiming to prevent dance bars from operating by obtaining orchestra licences instead of securing permissions under the state's Dance Bar Act.

The Bill, tabled by Minister of State for Home (Rural) Pankaj Bhoyar, proposes removing the power to issue licences for live music performances and orchestras in hotels, restaurants and bars from the Maharashtra Police Act. Such permissions will instead be governed under the Maharashtra Prohibition of Obscene Dance in Hotels, Restaurants and Bar Rooms and Protection of Dignity of Women (Working Therein) Act, 2016.

According to the government, several establishments have been using orchestra licences issued under the Police Act as a loophole to conduct dance performances without complying with the provisions of the 2016 Dance Bar Act.

At present, Section 33 of the Maharashtra Police Act empowers police commissioners and district magistrates to grant licences for public performances, including music and dance. The proposed amendment seeks to remove this provision for hotels, restaurants and bars.

The Statement of Objects and Reasons accompanying the Bill states that licences for live music performances have increasingly been misused as an alternative to dance performance licences under the 2016 law. To curb this practice, the government has proposed bringing orchestra licences within the ambit of the Dance Bar Act.

The amendment follows Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis's announcement during the ongoing Monsoon Session that the government had identified an "escape route" being exploited by some establishments despite the enactment of the Dance Bar Act.

"We will bring an amendment to the Maharashtra Police Act in this Monsoon Session itself to stop this practice," Fadnavis had said.

If enacted, the amendment will require bars and restaurants conducting performances covered under the Dance Bar Act to obtain permissions only under the 2016 legislation and comply with its prescribed conditions.

The government said the move is intended to strengthen regulation of dance bars and ensure that establishments cannot bypass one law by obtaining licences under another.