The Kerala High Court on Tuesday held that an association of private individuals formed with the objective of promoting any sports/games cannot be prevented from naming after ‘Kerala’ or ‘Bharat’ or ‘India’ under the Emblems and Names (Prevention of Improper Use) Act, 1950.
Justice N. Nagaresh observed that the Act banned only the naming of commercial entities after India, Bharat or Kerala.
The court made the observations while allowing a writ petition filed by the Kerala Deaf Cricket Association against the refusal by the Registration Department to register the association because of prefixing Kerala before the association's name.
The Department took the stand that no society with a word ‘Kerala’ could be registered in view of the the Emblems and Names (Prevention of Improper Use) Act of 1950. Besides, there was no provision to name a non-Governmental organisation with a name of any State or nation as the same might be misunderstood or interpreted as a governmental organisation.
The court pointed out that the Emblems and Names (Prevention of Improper Use) Act, 1950 was enacted to prevent the improper use of certain emblems and names for professional and commercial purposes. The scheme of the Act would manifest that it was "intended to curb the menace of exploitation of citizens by naming commercial entities in such a manner that the general public would be led to believe that a private commercial entity is one which has the official patronage of the Central or State Government. The Act, 1950 is rather intended to protect the common man than to assert the authority of the State".
The court held that since the association was not a one related to any trade, business, calling or profession, the provisions of the Emblems and Names (Prevention of Improper Use) Act, 1950 could not be applied to the petitioner.
The court ordered that the application submitted by the association be considered without regard to the provisions contained in the Act, 1950.
