AP High Court stays government from selling movie tickets online

The Andhra Pradesh (AP) High Court on Friday, in an interim order, restrained the state government from selling movie tickets online. The AP High Court has scheduled a final hearing of the case on 27 July 2022.

Multiplex Association of India, Bigtree Entertainment Private Limited (BookMyShow) and Vijayawada Exhibitors’ Association had filed a bunch of petitions against the government’s move to take ownership of online movie ticket sales. Chief Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra and Justice DVSS Somayajulu stayed the Government Order (GO) Ms No. 69 and ordered a status quo. No further action can be taken by the state government until the final hearing.

The AP Government had previously decided to launch a government-run movie tickets booking platform. The petitioners had challenged this move, as they believed it would affect the business of private companies. They argued that this will affect their rights to trade in the courtroom.

The petitioners argued that there was no clarity on the revenue-sharing model. Though the government said that they would reimburse the share of theatres after deducting the taxes, the petitioners wanted to receive the revenue first-hand and said that they would in turn pay taxes to the government.

After hearing both sides, the court observed that the issues raised by the petitioners needed a detailed study and to be heard at length. According to the AP Cinema Regulation Act, 1955, the court felt it was necessary to check whether the state has the power to regulate all the incidental services which were being provided to the cinema-goers by the current third-party aggregators.

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