Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court on Friday, September 26, pulled up the state government for repeatedly failing to file counters in petitions challenging the hike in cinema ticket rates.
The court reminded that it had earlier directed the implementation of GO 120 to regulate ticket prices, and questioned how the government could issue fresh orders contrary to those directions.
The court was hearing a petition filed by B Mallesh Yadav challenging the government memo issued on September 19, permitting enhanced ticket rates along with benefit shows for the upcoming film OG.
Single judge suspends memo
Earlier, a single judge had suspended the memo, following which the film producers approached a division bench. The bench, however, referred the matter back to the single judge for a detailed hearing.
On Friday, Justice NV Shravan Kumar heard extensive arguments from multiple parties. Sudarshan Theatre too filed an implead petition in the case.
Senior advocates S Niranjan Reddy and Avinash Desai, appearing for the producer and the theatre management, argued that Telugu cinema had earned global recognition with big-budget films, and that the government allowed ticket price increases to encourage such projects.
They further contended that the petitioner was under no compulsion to watch the movie on the very first day and could view the film later at normal prices. Pointing out that tickets had already been sold out, they submitted that enforcing the interim orders at this stage was impractical.
Govt defends memo
Government counsel Mahesh Raje defended the memo, stating that authorities had issued it after considering all relevant aspects. The petitioner’s counsel, however, maintained that the government had no jurisdiction to pass such an order.
During the hearing, Justice Shravan Kumar expressed displeasure that the government had not filed counter-affidavits in four similar petitions filed earlier.
Observing that such a practice could not be allowed to continue, the judge stressed the need to resolve the issue decisively.
The court extended its interim order suspending the government’s September 19 memo beyond September 25 and directed the government to file its counter by the next hearing.
The matter was adjourned to October 9.
