A writ petition admitted by the Madras High Court has claimed that theatre owners in Tamil Nadu are charging ‘surge prices’ for movie tickets and sought the court's intervention.
The petition mentioned that the Tamil Nadu government had determined pricing cap for movie tickets in 2009.
Justice T Raja after hearing the petition issued notices to authorities and sought a response within two weeks.
The petitioner, one G Devraj asked the court to at least make an exception for the upcoming Suriya blockbuster "Singam-3".
Devraj also highlighted the “menace” of surge pricing peaked for Rajini-starrer Kabaali for which theatre owners had started surge pricing even six months ahead of the release and sought action against those theatres.
Devraj also alleged that in order to avoid legal hassles, cinema owners did not have their names or prices on the printed tickets.
The idea of surge pricing is relatively new in India.
Private cab aggregators were the first ones to introduce surge or dynamic pricing.
Even the Indian Railways introduced surge pricing or flexi fare for its premium train.
Since, its introduction the concept of surge pricing has faced criticism too and was made to be withdraw by state governments in some instances.