High Court stays online sale of movie tickets

Vijayawada: A Division Bench led by Chief Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra and consisting of Justice DVSS Somayajulu on Friday restrained the state government from implementing sale of cinema tickets through exclusive online portal. This portal was to become operational from July 27.

The division bench said that the final hearing would be held on the above date and status quo should be maintained till then to address all the questions of law raised in the writ petitions.

It may be noted that the Multiplex Association of India, Bigtree Entertainment Private Limited (BookMyShow) and Vijayawada Exhibitors' Association have challenged the proposed launch of a government-run ticket-booking platform, saying that it will render private ticket booking businesses commercially unviable.

The main argument is that the ticket aggregators must do their business subject to a whole lot of terms and conditions laid down by the government, which deprives them of a level playing field.

The very action of the government in coming up with a portal of its own will infringe on the aggregators' freedom to trade enshrined in the Constitution, the petitioners insisted. It may be mentioned here that on Tuesday, the High Court had refused to stay the implementation of the online ticket system. Supreme Court senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi who argued on behalf of the petitioners had said that the amendments and orders put the control off online ticket in the hands of government leading to monopoly. The 2% service charge will further burden the-consumer.

But Advocate-General S Sri Ram, who appeared on behalf of the state government, argued the government had brought in this system to protect the interests of consumers and prevent organisations like BookMyShow from overcharging consumers.