Plea against Coldplay ticket sales raises concerns of malpractice in ticket sales but only state can act, says Bombay HC

A division bench of Chief Justice D K Upadhyaya and Justice Amit Borkar said the petition filed by advocate Amit Vyas indeed highlights the importance of regulating and overseeing online ticket sales for major events, particularly to address allegations of black marketing, scalping and revenue loss

Mumbai: The Bombay High Court has said a petition filed by an advocate raising concerns of malpractices in ticket sales for British band Coldplay‘s concert was important but it was for the Maharashtra government to take appropriate action.

A division bench of Chief Justice D K Upadhyaya and Justice Amit Borkar said the petition filed by advocate Amit Vyas indeed highlights the importance of regulating and overseeing online ticket sales for major events, particularly to address allegations of black marketing, scalping and revenue loss.

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“However, any legislative or policy initiative must emanate from the competent authorities under the constitutional and statutory scheme,” HC said.

The court said it was open for the appropriate legislature or executive to frame or amend effective laws, rules and regulations to address the issues of online ticket sales.

The bench had on January 10 dismissed the petition noting that the issues raised in it pertained to the legislative domain and hence the court could not interfere.

As part of their ‘Music of the Spheres World Tour’, the British rock band has three shows scheduled at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai on January 18, 19 and 21.

The high court in its detailed judgment, which was made available on Thursday, said that while the petition highlights the urgent need for regulatory intervention to address the challenges posed by the evolving online ticketing industry, the responsibility for creating a statutory framework lies with the legislature.

The bench said the grievances raised by the petitioner Amit Vyas about unethical practices in the online ticketing ecosystem underscore the need for a robust regulatory mechanism.

“However, it is ultimately for the legislature and the executive, in their wisdom, to address these issues through appropriate policy measures or legislative intervention,” HC said.

The court said the basic structure of the Indian Constitution mandates that the three organs of the State – legislature, executive and judiciary – must function independently.

“Judicial encroachment into legislative functions would undermine this fundamental principle and disrupt the balance of power,” it said.

The bench said in the absence of existing statutory provisions regulating illegalities such as ticket scalping, touting, and black marketing concerning the sale of tickets for major events, it cannot issue directions to enact specific laws or regulations.

The high court also said that the practices of ticket scalping, hoarding and resale by private entities do not per se violate the fundamental rights of citizens under Articles 14, 15(2), 19 and 21 of the Constitution of India.

The PIL had said there are several irregularities and illegalities during the sale of tickets for any major events such as concerts and live shows.

In his petition, Vyas claimed that irregularities came to the fore when the tickets for the Coldplay concert were made available on the BookMyShow platform.

The plea had sought the court to lay down stringent guidelines to prevent black marketing, ticket touting and ticket scalping of online tickets for such major events.