The Kerala High Court on Tuesday admitted a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking regulatory intervention to curb arbitrary and excessive ticket pricing by multiplex operators in the State [Manu Nair G v. State of Kerala & ors]..A Bench of Chief Justice Nitin Jamdar and Justice Basant Balaji directed the government pleader to seek instructions on the plea.The matter has been posted for further hearing on July 1..The PIL filed by advocate Manu Nair G challenges the unregulated practice of dynamic ticket pricing by cinema chains such as PVR, INOX, Cinepolis, and others.Manu in his plea claimed that multiplex operators have been exploiting consumers through dynamic pricing models, where movie ticket rates were hiked based on factors such as time slots, demand and release status, particularly during the initial weeks of a film's release. This, he said, was being done without any oversight from licensing authorities under the Kerala Cinemas (Regulation) Act, 1958.The petition highlighted that cinema theatres in Kerala operated under the 1958 Act and the Rules of 1988, which mandated licensing and regulation to ensure public interest. However, there was no provision in the Act or Rules that permitted unrestricted dynamic pricing without approval from licensing authorities, it said."In the absence of such oversight, multiplex theatres in Kerala-such as 8 respondent (PVR INOX), 9th respondent (Cinepolis) and such other multiplex theatres across Kerala have adopted a pricing regime that is not only opaque but also discriminatory and financially burdensome to the common public. Consumers are subjected to arbitrary price escalations without any justification or remedy. In contrast, several other Indian states have issued clear regulatory mechanisms to prevent such profiteering and protect public interest."It was pointed out that several states such as Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu had already implemented executive orders capping movie ticket prices.The inaction of the Kerala government in this regard amounted to a violation of Article 14 (Right to Equality), as cinema viewers in other states were not subjected to such unregulated pricing, the petition stated..The petitioner thus sought directions to the State government to frame a regulatory mechanism for cinema ticket pricing in multiplexes and to prevent arbitrary price fluctuations. He also sought interim relief in the form of a temporary halt on the use of dynamic pricing models by multiplexes until a policy was framed.
