Justice D.V.S.S. Somayajulu of Andhra Pradesh High Court on Wednesday ruled that the government can at best convey its opinion on the pricing of cinema tickets to the licensing authority but it cannot be the authority by itself to fix the rates and charges.
The ultimate decision must be of the licensing authority only, he ordered during the hearing of a writ petition wherein the Multiplex Association of India (MAI) challenged the government order, that service charges should be included for online booking in the overall price for admission to cinema theaters.
The petitioner (manager of PVR Cinemas in Vijayawada) claimed to represent the owners of multiplexes in India. He contended that the inclusion of service charges for online booking of tickets is contrary to the provisions of the AP Cinemas (Regulation) Act, 1955.
The judge said in his interim order that the petitioner is at liberty to revert back to the existing system of providing online booking and also to levy the existing service charge on the cine-goers who wish to book tickets online, and posted the case to June 15 to facilitate the filing of counters.
The petitioner’s argument is that online ticket booking being provided by the theaters is a service given to the audience and the public or cine-goers who wish to avoid the crowds or standing in the queues will avail the facility. It is an extra service being offered to the customers, like parking and some other services and it cannot be called the ‘rate for admission’ into the cinema theaters.
In his submission, the Advocate General had maintained that the regulation of admission fees is wholly within the State’s competence and the government dealt with the exhibitors as a class and did not distinguish between the multiplex theaters and single screen owners.
