The Telangana High Court on Tuesday declined to interfere with a single-judge bench’s interim order directing the state to notify any movie ticket price hikes at least 90 days before the movie’s release date.
A division bench of Chief Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh and Justice G M Mohiuddin ruled that the issues raised by the appellant should be settled in the ongoing writ petition before the single-judge bench rather than through an appeal against the interim directions.
“It appears that the interim order has not affected the release of the subject movie so far as the appellant is concerned. Therefore, we do not find any reason to entertain this appeal against the interim order,” the court observed, granting liberty to the appellant and other parties to agitate the issues involved in the writ petition. “Considering the issues involved, we request the learned writ court to hear the matter expeditiously upon completion of pleadings,” the court ordered.
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.
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Subsequently, the court disposed of the appeal without interfering with the interim order.
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