The Karnataka High Court on Monday imposed an interim stay, effective until March 27, on a Bengaluru consumer forum that held PVR Cinemas liable to compensate a complainant for delaying movie screenings with extended advertisements..A District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission in Bengaluru had recently ordered PVR Cinemas and INOX (now merged with PVR) to ensure that movie tickets mention the actual start time of movie shows, rather than mentioning the time when advertisements are screened before the movie starts.A Bench of Justice M Nagaprasanna observed, "In a complaint filed...reason given in those 25 minutes advertisement were shown...The consumer forum accepts the plea of petitioner and traverses the complaint and answers the complaint as if it has jurisdiction akin to a public interest petition. It indulges in a discourse about how a movie show should be run and directs that the theatres should not project advertisements, as it would become unfair trade practice. All these directions of the consumer forum are on the face of it without jurisdiction...".“While that may be that, an appeal remedy will not halt or put shackles on the hand of this Court in exercising jurisdiction under Article 226 of Constitution. More so, when it comes across a case where the concerned fora or court has acted in blatant violation of jurisdiction...there shall be an interim order to stay as prayed for till the next date of hearing," the Court held..The complainant before the consumer forum, Abhishek MR, claimed that around 25 minutes of his time was wasted after he was shown long commercial ads before the screening of the movie "Sam Bahadur" in a PVR theatre in 2023. The delay made it difficult for him to get back to work after the movie show like he had earlier planned, he stated in his complaint.The district consumer forum had observed that BookMyShow need not be blamed for this, since it has no control over movie show timings or the ads telecast before movie shows. However, it had held that PVR and INOX cannot continue to engage in the unfair practice of wasting movie-goers' time by showing long commercial advertisements during the time slot meant to exhibit the movie itself."In the new era, time is considered as money, each one's time is very precious, no one has right to gain benefit out of others time and money. 25-30 (minutes) is not less to sit idle in the theatre and watch whatever the theatre telecasts. It is very hard for busy people with tight schedule watching unnecessary advertisements. However, they make their own arrangements to get some relaxation with family. (This does) not mean that people have no other work to do," the consumer forum had said..During the hearing before the High Court, Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi appeared for PVR argued, "Everyone knows that the movie starts 15-20 minutes late. Now the consumer counsel says that we have to decide whether showing advertisement is essential or not...people are running out of time why are you wasting time, time is very precious...under local act ,there is no requirement of setting time...this was directed against one movie hall milord...Mischief mongers have already started creating problems against us, they went to Madhya Pradesh High Court too and same was rejected...they are taking class action without following any procedure."The matter will be heard next on March 27..Time is valuable resource: Madhya Pradesh High Court on PIL against long ads before movies in cinemas
The Karnataka High Court on Monday imposed an interim stay, effective until March 27, on a Bengaluru consumer forum that held PVR Cinemas liable to compensate a complainant for delaying movie screenings with extended advertisements..A District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission in Bengaluru had recently ordered PVR Cinemas and INOX (now merged with PVR) to ensure that movie tickets mention the actual start time of movie shows, rather than mentioning the time when advertisements are screened before the movie starts.A Bench of Justice M Nagaprasanna observed, "In a complaint filed...reason given in those 25 minutes advertisement were shown...The consumer forum accepts the plea of petitioner and traverses the complaint and answers the complaint as if it has jurisdiction akin to a public interest petition. It indulges in a discourse about how a movie show should be run and directs that the theatres should not project advertisements, as it would become unfair trade practice. All these directions of the consumer forum are on the face of it without jurisdiction...".“While that may be that, an appeal remedy will not halt or put shackles on the hand of this Court in exercising jurisdiction under Article 226 of Constitution. More so, when it comes across a case where the concerned fora or court has acted in blatant violation of jurisdiction...there shall be an interim order to stay as prayed for till the next date of hearing," the Court held..The complainant before the consumer forum, Abhishek MR, claimed that around 25 minutes of his time was wasted after he was shown long commercial ads before the screening of the movie "Sam Bahadur" in a PVR theatre in 2023. The delay made it difficult for him to get back to work after the movie show like he had earlier planned, he stated in his complaint.The district consumer forum had observed that BookMyShow need not be blamed for this, since it has no control over movie show timings or the ads telecast before movie shows. However, it had held that PVR and INOX cannot continue to engage in the unfair practice of wasting movie-goers' time by showing long commercial advertisements during the time slot meant to exhibit the movie itself."In the new era, time is considered as money, each one's time is very precious, no one has right to gain benefit out of others time and money. 25-30 (minutes) is not less to sit idle in the theatre and watch whatever the theatre telecasts. It is very hard for busy people with tight schedule watching unnecessary advertisements. However, they make their own arrangements to get some relaxation with family. (This does) not mean that people have no other work to do," the consumer forum had said..During the hearing before the High Court, Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi appeared for PVR argued, "Everyone knows that the movie starts 15-20 minutes late. Now the consumer counsel says that we have to decide whether showing advertisement is essential or not...people are running out of time why are you wasting time, time is very precious...under local act ,there is no requirement of setting time...this was directed against one movie hall milord...Mischief mongers have already started creating problems against us, they went to Madhya Pradesh High Court too and same was rejected...they are taking class action without following any procedure."The matter will be heard next on March 27..Time is valuable resource: Madhya Pradesh High Court on PIL against long ads before movies in cinemas
