Film-goers may have to spend more on ticket charges, as the Madras high court has directed the Tamil Nadu government to take a 'rational and realistic decision' on ticket charges keeping in mind rising in wages to workers, electricity tariff and maintenance expenses.
The first bench of the court, passing orders on a writ petition filed by Tamil Nadu Film Exhibitors Association, disapproved of the government's decision not to accede to the exhibitors' plea to upwardly revise ticket fares, and said: "It can hardly be disputed that on various accounts, costs have increased, including basic aspects like electricity cost, dearness allowance payable to employees and entertainment tax." It gave one month for the authorities to dispose of the matter.
It began with the writ petition filed by the association earlier, and a single judge directive on February 27, 2015, to consider the issue. The exhibitors wanted an increase in rates, restoration of the system wherein theatre owners would fix the rates for new films for the first two weeks and inspection of theatres more than 20 years old once in five years instead of every year.
After all the four demands were rejected by the government in an order dated October 21, the exhibitors filed the present petition before the first bench. Noting that the current rate of a maximum of 120 for multiplexes and minimum of 5 for non-air conditioned theatres in village panchayats was grossly inadequate to meet expenses, the association said the dearness allowance payable for employees had seen a 771% increase, from 549 to 4,235 over a nine-year period.
Similarly, the electricity tariff too had doubled, from 3.5 per unit in 2009 to 7 per unit in 2014. The business dynamics of the trade itself had undergone a sea-change where a theatre owner had to share the collection with the distributor at the rate of 40:60, the association said.
The first bench of the court, passing orders on a writ petition filed by Tamil Nadu Film Exhibitors Association, disapproved of the government's decision not to accede to the exhibitors' plea to upwardly revise ticket fares, and said: "It can hardly be disputed that on various accounts, costs have increased, including basic aspects like electricity cost, dearness allowance payable to employees and entertainment tax." It gave one month for the authorities to dispose of the matter.
It began with the writ petition filed by the association earlier, and a single judge directive on February 27, 2015, to consider the issue. The exhibitors wanted an increase in rates, restoration of the system wherein theatre owners would fix the rates for new films for the first two weeks and inspection of theatres more than 20 years old once in five years instead of every year.
After all the four demands were rejected by the government in an order dated October 21, the exhibitors filed the present petition before the first bench. Noting that the current rate of a maximum of 120 for multiplexes and minimum of 5 for non-air conditioned theatres in village panchayats was grossly inadequate to meet expenses, the association said the dearness allowance payable for employees had seen a 771% increase, from 549 to 4,235 over a nine-year period.
Similarly, the electricity tariff too had doubled, from 3.5 per unit in 2009 to 7 per unit in 2014. The business dynamics of the trade itself had undergone a sea-change where a theatre owner had to share the collection with the distributor at the rate of 40:60, the association said.