Telangana High court mandates 90-day advance notice for movie ticket price hikes
The High Court issued a suo motu contempt notice against CV Anand, Principal Secretary of the Home Department.
Hyderabad: Telangana High Court in an order said that movie producers must finalise and announce decisions of a hike in ticket prices at least 90 days in advance of the film’s release.
The writ petition heard by a single bench Justice NV Shravan Kumar, also issued a contempt notice to the Principal Secretary of Home Department, CV Anand, for reported lack of oversight from the department before approving the ticket price hike of Chiranjeevi starrer ‘Mana Shankar Prasad Garu’.
Public’s right to information violated: Advocate
Advocate Vijay Gopal challenged the order, which arbitrarily increased the ticket price without verifying the film's budget, source of funds or expenditure statements.
The advocate further argued that such approvals constitute a violation of right to information for general audiences and described the decision making process as opaque.
After the state government issued a ticket price hike for ‘The Raja Saab’ and ‘Mana Shankar Vara Prasad Garu’, the court directed the state not to issue movie ticket prices and subsequently hit out at the government saying that it was a case of blatant judicial oversight.
Justice NV Shravan Kumar observed that 90-day advance notice is the timeframe that was mandated under Telangana Cinemas Regulation Act, 1955, to ensure transparency.
The court also said that future applications for movie ticket price hikes must contain detailed financial disclosures and information related to budgets and affidavits of expenditure.