Minor Offences (Amendment) Bill

Any person who discharges or lets off any firework, except in accordance with an order published in the Gazette under subsection (2) of this section or with the requirements or conditions of a licence issued under the said subsection, shall be guilty of an offence under this Ordinance and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding five hundred dollars or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or to both such fine and imprisonment.(2) The Deputy Commissioner of Police may, from time to time, issue orders, which shall be published in the Gazette, authorising the discharge or letting off of fireworks on certain fixed days, and at or between certain fixed hours, and within certain defined areas and he, or any police officer authorised by him in that behalf, may in any particular case issue to any person or body of persons a licence for the discharge or letting off of fireworks upon payment of such fee as may be specified by the Minister, from time to time, by notification in the Gazette.(3) Every licence issued under subsection (2) of this section shall state the place where, and the hours between which, the fireworks may be discharged or let off and the description of the fireworks which may be used, and may contain such conditions as the Deputy Commissioner of Police or the officer so authorised may think fit to impose.(4) No order published or licence issued under subsection (2) of this section shall be held to relieve any person from liability in the event that any damage, loss or injury to person or property is caused by the discharge or letting off of such fireworks.(5) The occupier of any house from or in which, or from or in the verandah of which, any contravention of subsection (1) of this section takes place shall be guilty of an offence under this Ordinance and shall be liable on conviction to the punishment provided for in the said subsection as well as the person, if another person, who committed the offence.(6) The Deputy Commissioner of Police may, from time to time, by order published in the Gazette, prohibit the discharge or letting off of any particular type of firework at all times or for such periods as he may think fit, and any person who contravenes the provisions of any such order shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding five hundred dollars or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or to both such fine and imprisonment.(7) For the purposes of subsections (1) to (5) of this section, the expression “firework” or “fireworks” includes fire crackers and sand crackers.”.