Telangana High Court refuses to stay 90-day notice rule for movie ticket price hikes

The case stems from a memo issued by the home department on January 8, permitting a price hike for the Chiranjeevi-starrer Mana Shankara Vara Prasad Garu, which was scheduled for release on January 12. The memo was challenged by the petitioner, advocate Dachepally Chandra Babu, who contended that such sudden increases in the price of movie tickets prevent the public from their right to file reviews or representations under section 7A of the Telangana Cinemas Regulation Act 1955.

On January 20, Justice N V Shravan Kumar issued an interim order directing the state to place any decision on hiking the ticket prices 90 days before the movie’s release date, as mandated by section 7A of the Telangana Cinemas Regulation Act 1955, to allow the stakeholders, including the audience, to file for a review of the decision.

On Tuesday, M/s Shine Screens India LLP, the producers of the film, appealed against this interim order, arguing that the writ court should not have granted such larger relief or issued an interim order without considering that the petitioner cannot claim to be an interested party for all the upcoming films. The appellant further contended that the 90-day rule would unfairly impact the financial necessity of fee hikes for future films.

Recording the submissions, the division bench observed that the interim order had not actually affected the release of the movie. “Prima facie, we are of the opinion that since the main writ petition is pending before the learned writ court, all these issues can be duly canvassed… we do not find any reason to entertain this appeal against the interim order,” the bench stated.

Subsequently, the court disposed of the appeal without interfering with the interim order.