The Karnataka high court today (September 23) stayed the Karnataka state government’s cap on cinema admission rates at Rs. 200 except for multiplexes offering premium facilities and with seating capacity of 75 or less. Justice Ravi V. Hosmani passed an interim order on the petitions filed by Multiplex Association of India, film production houses Hombale Films, Keystone Entertainment and VK Films.
The petitioners contended that the state government had no power under the Karnataka Cinema (Regulation) Act, 1964, and the rules framed thereunder, to restrict or prescribe the price for tickets for cinema exhibition. The Act was mainly for controlling the licensing of cinemas, and not for controlling the prices of tickets, the petition said.
The petitioners questioned the legality of the amendment made to the Karnataka Cinema (Regulation) Rules with effect from September 12, capping the prices of the tickets at Rs. 200 except in the case of multiplexes which offered premium facilities to customers and had seating capacity of 75 or less. They (petitioners) pointed out that a similar attempt to cap the ticket prices was made in 2017 by issuing a Government Order (GO), but the order was withdrawn after cinema houses and others questioned the legality of the GO.
The petitioners argued that admission rates should remain a matter between film exhibitors and the public. They added that the state government had no authority to introduce a cap on ticket prices. “We’ve spent huge sums of money on creating a cinema hall… there can’t be a direction that all your tickets should be at Rs. 200… or all airlines should be economy class,” the advocate of the Multiplex Association of India argued.