The Prize Competitions Act, 1955

(1) This Act may be called the Prize CompetitionsAct, 1955. (2) It extends to 1[the territories which, immediately before the 1st November, 1956, werecomprised in] the States of Andhra, Bombay, Madras, Orissa, Uttar Pradesh, Hyderabad, MadhyaBharat, Patiala and East Punjab States Union and Saurashtra and all Part C States. (3) It shall come into force on such date2as the Central Government may, by notification in theOfficial Gazette, appoint.

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,-- (a) "licensing authority" means any officer or authority appointed by the State Government,by notification in the Official Gazette, for the purpose of granting licences under this Act; (b) "money" includes a cheque, postal-order or money-order; (c) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this Act; (d) "prize competition" means any competition (whether called a cross-word prizecompetition, a missing-word prize competition, a picture prize competition or by any other name)in which prizes are offered for the solution of any puzzle based upon the building up,arrangement, combination or permutation, of letters, words, or figures.

For the purposes of this Act,-- (a) references to printing shall be construed as including references to writing and othermodes of representing or re-producing letters, words or figures in a visible form; and (b) documents or other matters shall be deemed to be distributed if they are distributed topersons or places within or outside the territories to which this Act extends and the worddistribution' shall be construed accordingly.

No person shall promote or conduct any prize competition or competitions in which thetotal value of the prize or prizes (whether in cash or otherwise) to be offered in any month exceedsone thousand rupees; and in every prize competition, the number of entries shall not exceed twothousand.

Subject to the provisions of section 4, no person shall promote or conduct anyprize competition or competitions in which the total value of the prize or prizes (whether in cash orotherwise) to be offered in any month does not exceed one thousand rupees unless he has obtained inthis behalf a licence granted in accordance with the provisions of this Act and the rules madethereunder.