A.P High Court stays the proposed online sale of cinema tickets through a govt. platform till July 27

The final hearing would be held on July 27 and status quo is required till then to address all the questions of law raised in the writ petitions, the court said

The Andhra Pradesh High Court restrained the State government from going ahead with the sale of cinema tickets through an exclusive portal which it planned to launch, till July 27.

A Division Bench led by Chief Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra and consisting of Justice D.V.S.S. Somayajulu issued an interim order to that effect on Friday.

They said the final hearing would be held on the above date and status quo is required till then to address all the questions of law raised in the writ petitions.

It may be noted that the Multiplex Association of India, Bigtree Entertainment Private Limited (BookMyShow) and Vijayawada Exhibitors’ Association have challenged the proposed launch of a government-run ticket-booking platform, saying that it will render private ticket booking businesses commercially unviable.

The main argument is that the ticket aggregators have to do their business subject to a whole lot of terms and conditions laid down by the government, which deprives them of a level playing field.

The very action of the government in coming up with a portal of its own will infringe on the aggregators’ freedom to trade enshrined in the Constitution, the petitioners insisted.