Cinema hall owners have every right to decide the rules for the sale of food and drink inside the hall. The Supreme Court said this on Tuesday while hearing a petition. The CJI said, 'Cinema-goers have the option of not buying these items.' The court also reiterated that the cinema halls must continue to provide drinking water free of cost.
A bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice PS Narasimha heard the petition. The bench said that the cinema hall is a private property and it can impose such terms and conditions. The court said that if a spectator enters the cinema hall, he has to follow the rules of the owner of the cinema hall. Selling food in multiplex is a commercial matter.
According to the BookMyShow app, at Ambience Mall and City Center Mall in Gurugram, popcorn on PVR costs around Rs 340-490 depending on taste and taste, while Pepsi costs around Rs 330-390. And the price of popcorn at PVR in Phoenix Marketcity Mall, Bengaluru is around Rs 180-330.
According to PVR Chairman and MD Ajay Bijli, the food and beverage business in the hall is now worth Rs 1,500 crore. India is now moving from single screen to multiplex. This is a time of change. It costs a lot to run these multiplexes. To cover the operational cost, snacks are sold at multiplexes at higher prices.
The Supreme Court set aside the Jammu and Kashmir High Court order that allowed people to carry their own eatables inside multiplexes and movie theatres. The court was hearing a batch of petitions filed by theater owners and the Multiplex Association of India challenging the High Court's 2018 verdict.
