Section 149

Where the Director‑General has reason to believe that a place is being used as a brothel or as a place of assignation, the Director‑General may serve or cause to be served a notice in the prescribed form on the owner of the place, as well as the occupier thereof.

If the owner or occupier is not otherwise known, service must be made on the person inscribed in the books kept under any written law for the time being in force as the owner or occupier of the place; and if the name of the owner or occupier is not inscribed in those books or if the name of the owner or occupier cannot by the exercise of due diligence be found, then the notice may be served by affixing it to the principal outer door or upon the outside of any door or window or any conspicuous part of the place.

Every occupier (A) receiving a notice under this section must forthwith inform the owner or the person from whom A rents the place (B) of the fact of receipt of the notice, and B must in like manner inform the owner or the person from whom B rents the place and so on till the notice is brought to the knowledge of the owner, each tenant being responsible for bringing the notice to the knowledge of the tenant’s immediate lessor.

Any occupier who refuses or omits to inform the owner or the person from whom the occupier rents the premises that a notice under this section has been received shall be liable to prosecution under section 225C of the Penal Code 1871.

If, in proceedings under this Part, it is proved that the notice under subsection (1) has been served on the owner or occupier of a place, it shall be presumed that the place is so kept, managed or used to the knowledge or with the permission of the owner or occupier of the place.