The Telangana High Court has made its position very clear regarding the ongoing controversy over movie ticket price hikes. The court stated that disputes related to ticket price increases must be decided only by the single judge bench and not through appeals before a division bench.
This issue arose after the Telangana government issued a memo on January 8 allowing ticket price hikes for the films Mana Shankara Vara Prasad Garu and The Raja Saab. Advocate D Chandra Babu challenged this memo before a single judge of the High Court. He argued that sudden ticket price hikes violate Section 7A of the Telangana Cinemas Regulation Act, 1955, as they deny the public sufficient time to file objections or seek a review.
After hearing the petition, Justice NV Shravan Kumar, sitting as a single judge, cancelled the government memo and passed an interim order directing the state to announce any ticket price hike at least 90 days before a movie’s release. This order was meant to protect the rights of audiences and other stakeholders.
Following this, the producers Shine Screens India LLP filed an appeal against the single judge order. The producers argued that the 90-day rule would negatively affect the financial viability of future films and that the petitioner could not represent all upcoming movies.
However, the division bench refused to interfere. Since the main writ petition is still pending before the single judge, the bench ruled that all objections and arguments must be raised there itself. The court also requested the single judge bench to hear the matter quickly once all pleadings are complete.
As a result, the High Court declined to stay or suspend the 90-day notice rule and disposed of the appeal without changing the earlier order. This decision has huge implications for producers in Telangana, as they cannot increase ticket prices at the last minute anymore. They will now have to inform the government and the public well in advance if they want higher ticket prices.
