The Supreme Court has raised concern over the huge costs of water bottle, coffees and other stuffs that the multiplexes sell along with movie tickets, and said if the situation persists, cinema halls will soon become empty. A bench of Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Sandeep Mehta was hearing the petitions filed by the Multiplex Association of India and others challenging the conditions that the Karnataka High Court imposed staying the Karnataka Government’s decision to cap the multiplex ticket prices at Rs 200.
The top court mentioned that the multiplexes must fix the rates so that people enjoy coming to movies, “otherwise the cinema halls will be empty”.
[img=1px,1px]https://data.indianexpress.com/election2019/track_1x1.jpg[/img]“You charge 100 Rupees for water bottle, 700 Rupees for coffee….” Justice Nath said, according to a Live Law report. To this, senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for the Multiplex Association, said, “Taj will charge Rs 1000 for coffee, can you fix it?”
“It is a matter of choice,” he added.
The court opined these rates should be fixed, adding, “Cinema as it is declining, make it more reasonable for people to come and enjoy, otherwise, cinema halls will be empty.”
“Let it be empty, this is only for multiplex. You can go to the normal ones. Why do you want to come here only?” Rohatgi replied. Justice Nath responded, “There are no normal ones left.”
What did the Karnataka HC said in its order
A division bench of the Karnataka HC ordered the multiplexes to maintain auditable records of every ticket sold, enable tracking of the persons who purchased tickets both online and offline, so that whenever required, refunds can be issued if the multiplexes lose the case.
“We are with the division bench, that it should be 200,” Justice Nath added, to which Rohtagi said, “It is a matter of choice.”
Rohatgi flagged that taking IDs of the consumers is not feasible as most tickets are booked through online intermediaries such as BookMyShow. “The learned judges think that tickets are sold through counter. Tickets are sold through BookMyShow,” Rohtagi said, quoted Live Law.
“They will have the details. I don’t keep any details or Ids. Nobody goes to the counter to buy a ticket,” Rohatgi said, stressing that the HC’s directions were “unworkable.”
“Who carries an ID card to buy a ticket? The High Court says for every ticket purchased with cash, keep the ID card details,” he further said, the report added.
The bench has, as of now, stayed the High Court’s conditions. |
