PIL In Bombay Court Against 'Ticket Scalping' And 'Black Marketing' Of Online Tickets Of Concerts And Major Events

In relation to the recent controversy concerning 'ticket scalping' of Coldplay concert, a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) has been filed in the Bombay High Court seeking the formation of guidelines to address the practices of black marketing, ticket touting and ticket scalping of online tickets during concerts and other events.Recently, tickets for Coldplay's concert were available at the online booking website BookMyShow. The petition alleges that BookMyShow manipulated the online sale of the concert tickets.It is alleged that the BookMyShow website became non-responsive and users were not allowed to access the platform to buy the Coldplay concert tickets. The petition states that the sale of concert tickets was marred by blatant and rampant irregularities, ticket touting, and ticket scalping incidents. The petitioner argues that such practices have deprived consumers of their “fundamental right to have equal opportunity of buying tickers and getting access to entertainment and live events.” The petition states that the illegal practices have caused substantial economic loss to the public exchequer. The petitioner thus prays the Court to frame guidelines to prevent the practices of black marketing, ticket touting and ticker scalping of online tickets. The petitioner prays the Court to recommend the Union of India and the State of Maharashtra to frame laws, rules and regulations to prevent such practices. The petitioner also prays for the constitution of an expert committee to conduct a study and recommend measures to control and regulate the sale of online tickets for major events considering the right to public entertainment, tax implications and the interests of the public at large who attend such events. A division bench of Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyay and Justice Amit Borkar today said that the matter will be taken up after court vacations.

PIL In Bombay Court Against 'Ticket Scalping' And 'Black Marketing' Of Online Tickets Of Concerts And Major Events

Sanjana Dadmi

Tags