Apex court stays Jammu and Kashmir HC order allowing moviegoers to carry food inside theatres

The Supreme Court on Friday stayed a July direction by Jammu & Kashmir high court permitting moviegoers in the state to carry their own food and water into theatres.

The SC order came as a relief to Multiplex Association of India which had moved to challenge the J&K HC order. In SC, a bench of Justices Rohinton Nariman and Indu Malhotra, after hearing counsels Mukul Rohtagi and AM Singhvi, said it would stay only this direction and asked the original petitioners before HC to file replies. The Multiplex Association then gets two weeks to file its rejoinder to that reply, and SC will hear the matter after six weeks.

The HC had on July 18, while disposing of a PIL filed by Siddharth Anand and another lawyer, passed several directions. One direction was “Multiplexes and Cinema Halls Owners of the State of J&K” are “not to prohibit cinemagoers henceforth from carrying his or her own food articles and water inside the theatre.”

The Multiplex Association went to SC on July 30 and filed a special leave petition seeking to challenge the HC order passed by Justices Tashi Rabstan and SK Gupta. At the hearing on Friday, seeking immediate stay of the HC order, Rohtagi, counsel for the Multiplex Association, said it can’t be expected that a person goes to Taj hotel or any other restaurant with his or her own beverage of choice. He said the absence of a prohibition on outside food under rules governing cinema halls doesn’t mean anyone can carry anything inside. He also said if the HC order gets replicated across the country, it could put the private multiplexes in a tight spot.

The SC bench asked if there exist any statutory rules that impose any restrictions on moviegoers. Rohtagi said for movie halls, “Rules have to provide for movies and not food.”

The contention of multiplex owners is they are concerned about the safety of people and that restrictions were to ensure safety and hygiene. The council wondered how it would be possible to scan a large number of people who turn up usually a few minutes before a show. Also questioning the HC order, Singhvi said tickets contained certain restrictive conditions limiting what people can carry.

The SC stay is likely to impact the hearing in a PIL before Bombay high court on a plea to permit viewers to carry their own food into multiplexes. Advocate Aditya Pratap, the petitioner’s lawyer in Bombay HC, said given that the law was silent on any prohibition, home food ought to be allowed. At a hearing on August 8, Bombay HC, while questioning the state on its stand that permitting own food may lead to ‘chaos’ and ‘security’ concerns, posted the matter to September 3 after being told SC would be hearing the J&K matter.

Source:-https://retail.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/food-entertainment/entertainment/apex-court-stays-jammu-and-kashmir-hc-order-allowing-moviegoers-to-carry-food-inside-theatres/65364981

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