Stop theatres from fleecing cine-goers: Plea before Madras High Court

Chennai: A regular cinema-goer has approached the Madras high court to direct the state government to take steps to stop theatres from collecting excess ticket fare than the amount fixed by the government.  A Division bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice Pushpa Sathyanarayana before whom the Public Interest Litigation filed by G. Devarajan came up for hearing, ordered notice, returnable by two weeks, to the state government.

According to petitioner, he was a frequent visitor of cinema theatres to watch movies along with his family. The Tamil Nadu Cinema Theatre Regulation Act was amended in 2007. The amended rule provides for the minimum and maximum rates of admission to cinema theatres. As per which, the minimum admission rates in municipal corporation was Rs 10 and maximum Rs 50, in municipalities it was Rs 5 and 40, in town panchayats it was Rs 5 and 25 and village panchayats it was Rs 5 and 15. However, in violation of the amended rule, the cinema theatre owners were charging more rates than what was prescribed in the rule.

Moreover, whenever new movies, starring popular stars, were released they charge heavy amount, he alleged.  Citing various instances where he was forced to pay Rs 200 to watch new movies in Chennai, he said theatres had charged Rs 150 extra than the amount of Rs 50 prescribed. The capacity of the theatre was 1,000 seats.

 

 

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