‘Akhanda 2’: Telangana High Court suspends State govt memo for hiked ticket rates

Telangana HC suspended the State government’s memo permitting higher ticket rates and a special premiere show for ‘Akhanda 2’. The judge criticised repeated violations of earlier court orders and directed that no enhanced-price tickets be sold. Further hearing is on Friday

Hyderabad: Justice NV Shravan Kumar of the Telangana High Court on Thursday suspended the State government’s memo allowing increased ticket rates for the Telugu film ‘Akhanda 2’, which is scheduled for release on Friday.

The court was hearing three writ petitions filed against the memo issued on December 10, which permitted a special premiere show on Thursday evening with a ticket price of Rs 600 including GST. The petitioners argued that similar memos had been stayed earlier and that the latest permission was issued despite the matter already being under judicial scrutiny.

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The judge noted that the High Court had on December 9, directed the Special Chief Secretary not to issue any further memos on ticket hikes while the issue was still pending before the court. Yet, the government issued the December 10 memo referring again to GO 120 of 2021, prompting Thursday’s intervention.

Taking a serious view of the repeated violation of earlier directions, the court suspended the memo forthwith and ordered ’14 Reels Plus LLP’ and ‘BookMyShow’ not to sell tickets at the enhanced rate. The Special Chief Secretary was directed to immediately circulate the order to all relevant authorities for strict compliance. The matter will be taken up again on Friday for further hearing.