Hyderabad High Court seeks data on film ticket rates

Hyderabad: Stating that the TS and AP governments were dodging the issue of fixing rates of cinema tickets, the Hyderabad High Court on Thursday told them to place the proposed ticket rates class-wise before it by January 3. Justice S.V. Bhatt, while dealing with a batch of petitions filed by theatre owners from both states asked why the governments were dodging the issue for long.

The petitioners sought direction to both the governments to grant them permission to hike ticket rates. AP counsel informed the court that the government had prepared the GO and it would probably he issued in the next week. Counsels appearing for the theatre owners in Telangana state said the government had issued a GO but had kept it in abeyance.

The theatre-owners told Justice Bhatt that the GO issued by the erstwhile AP government in 2013 was struck down by the High Court. The court had directed both states to constitute committees headed by principal secretary, home, and decide the rates keeping in view of benefits of viewers, exhibitors and distributors by March 2017.