Telangana High Court slams state govt for ‘Raja Saab’ ticket price hike
Telangana high court asked the govt why the prices of tickets were being hiked repeatedly.
Telangana High Court has questioned the state government over the hike in ticket price for the film ‘The Raja Saab’.
Advocate Vijay Gopal argued that permission was granted for ticket price hikes in violation of the rules and that the Home Department secretary does not have the authority to issue such a memo.
He argued that only the Collectors at the district level and the Commissioner of Police in Hyderabad have the authority to grant permission for ticket price increases and benefit shows. Advocate Vijay Gopal requested that a fine of Rs. 5 lakh be imposed on the officer who issued the memo.
Government lawyer arguments:
Government lawyer argued that only a private individual will be inconvenienced by the ticket price increase.
"It is not a Public Interest litigation and only a writ petition. We did not agree to all the relaxations requested by the film unit. We only agreed to some of them. We demanded that 20% of the profits be given to film workers. Film workers will benefit from this,” he argued.
High court expresses anger at the state govt:
After hearing the arguments, a single bench judge expressed strong disagreement over the increase in ticket prices.
"Why are you increasing the prices repeatedly? Doesn’t the memo issuing officer not know the rules? This is not the first time an inquiry is being held regarding the ticket price memo. Why doesn't your mindset change despite being told so many times?” the judge said.
Raja Saab stars Prabhas, Nidhhi Agerwal, Malvika Mohanan, Ritu Kumar, Sanjay Dutt and Boman Irani and released on January 9.