PIL demands laws to stop black marketing of online ticket sales
Mumbai: A PIL filed in the Bombay High Court has sought guidelines to curb black marketing and ticket scalping at major events. Filed in the backdrop of controversy during the online tickets sale for British band Coldplay’s concert in Navi Mumbai in January 2025, the PIL filed by a lawyer, who has filed a police complaint against BookMyShow and other promoters of Coldplay concert in Navi Mumbai, sought direction to the Centre and Maharashtra government to frame stringent guidelines to prevent black marketing of tickets for major events.
Lawyer Amit Vyas was unable to secure tickets for a concert by the renowned British rock band scheduled for January 2025. In his petition dated October 19, he requested that authorities create regulations to address ticket scalping, touting, and black marketing for major events until specific laws and rules can be established to combat these practices.
The Economic Offences Wing of the Mumbai Police is already investigating a complaint filed by Vyas. A Bench of Chief Justice D.K. Upadhyay and Justice Amit Borkar noted that a police inquiry was on and posted the matter for hearing in November after the Diwali vacation.
According to the petitioner, black marketers have been using bots to automate the ticket-purchasing process, allowing them to secure a large volume of tickets within seconds. The issue became particularly evident during the recent sale of tickets for Coldplay’s concerts on January 18, 19, and 21, 2025, he said.
The petitioner further claimed that tickets went on sale via BookMyShow on September 22, 2024, at noon but sold out within just 30 minutes. Many users reported being logged out of the platform before the sale began, while tickets quickly appeared on certain secondary websites at prices 30 to 40 times higher than the original prices, he alleged. The PIL claimed that during certain highly anticipated events, the organisers and ticketing partners exploit fans by listing the tickets on secondary ticket websites for exorbitant prices.
“The sale of online tickets was apparently manipulated by BookMyShow platform in such a manner that even before mid-noon on the day the tickets were made available, people got logged out and were not allowed to access the website for purchase of tickets,” the PIL alleged.
In the plea, Vyas said such illegal practices have deprived people of their fundamental right to have an equal opportunity to access public entertainment. “The Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) Rules, 2020 mandate e-commerce entities to ensure fair and non-deceptive practices. However, in the absence of effective regulations in the ticketing sector, entities such as BookMyShow are not complying with the rules,” the PIL claimed.
Vyas has urged the court to frame guidelines to prevent ticket scalping and black marketing, as well as to direct the relevant authorities to establish effective laws and regulations to address the issue.