A plea has been moved in the Kerala high court by the Film Exhibitors United Organisation of Kerala, seeking approval to run cinemas in the state with strict adherence to COVID-19 protocols. The plea said that cinemas in the state had been ordered to shut down after the third wave although all other sectors including malls, public transport, hotels, theme parks and liquor outlets were allowed to function without any interdictions.
Justice N. Nagaresh on January 25 directed the government pleader to get instructions and posted the matter for consideration today (January 27). The petition challenged the recent government orders dated January 20 and 24, 2022, which imposed restrictions on the functioning of movie halls in the state in the wake of rising COVID-19 cases. Since other industries were left untouched, the petition argued that such a restriction imposed on a particular industry only, was arbitrary, unreasonable and discriminatory. The plea also emphasised that there was no case for the state that cinema halls and their operations had resulted in an increase in the number of Coronavirus cases in any manner. It was also urged that only Kerala had such restrictions imposed on cinema halls whereas cinemas in the neighbouring states were allowed to function with adherence to COVID-19 guidelines.
The petition asked for the petitioner’s members to be allowed to run cinema halls at 50% capacity by adhering to COVID-19 protocols and guidelines issued by the authorities from time to time.