IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) TUESDAY, THE THIRTIETH DAY OF SEPTEMBER TWO THOUSAND AND EIGHT PRESENT THE HON'BLE MS JUSTICE G.ROHINI W.P. NOs.19925, 20090, 20502, 21099 of 2008 In W.P.No.19925 of 2008 : Between: Sensation Insomnia, Rep. by its Proprietrix Manjula, Varshney, W/o. Late Rajkumar Gupta, 52 Years, H.No. 6-1-1057, Khairathabad, Hyderabad. ..... PETITIONER AND 1 The Government of Andhra Pradesh, Rep. by its Principal Secretary (General.A) Department, Secretariat, Hyderabad. 2 The Commissioner of Police, Hyderabad. .....RESPONDENT(S) Petition under Article 226 of the constitution of India praying that in the circumstances stated in the Aﬃdavit ﬁled herein the High Court will be pleased to issue a Writ of Mandamus or any other appropriate Writ declaring that the action of the ﬁrst defendant contained in G.O.Ms.No. 176, Home (General.A) Department, dated 8-9-2008 withdrawing G.O.Ms.No. 269, Home (General.A) Department, dated 16-12-2005 as arbitrary and irrational and consequently direct the respondents to permit the petitioner and other similarly situated cinema halls to charge extra rates for admission upto 75% of the existing rates for the two upper classes for the initial period of two weeks from the date of release of new film and grant such other relief or reliefs. Counsel for the Petitioner : MR.V.VENKATARAMANA Counsel for the Respondents : GP FOR GENERAL ADMINISTRATION IN WRIT PETITION NO : 20090 of 2008 Between: Sensation Sunshine, Rep. by its Proprietrix Manjula Varshney, W/o. late Rajkumar Gupta, Aged about 32 Years, H.No. 6-1-1057, Khairathabad, Hyderabad. ..... PETITIONER AND 1 The Government of Andhra Pradesh, Rep. byits Principal Secretary (General.A) Department, Secretariat, Hyderabad. 2 The Commissioner of Police, Hyderabad. .....RESPONDENT(S) Petition under Article 226 of the constitution of India praying that in the circumstances stated in the Aﬃdavit ﬁled herein the High Court will be pleased to issue a Writ of Mandamus or any other appropriate Writ declaring that the action of the ﬁrst Respondents contained in G.O.Ms.No. 176, Home (General A) Department, dated 8-9-2008 withdrawing G.O.Ms.No. 269, Home (General.A) Department, dated 16-12-2005 as arbitrary and irrational and consequently, direct the respondents to permit the petitioner and other similarly situated cinema halls to charge extra rates for admission upto 75% of the existing rates for the two upper classes for the initial period of two weeks from the date of release of new film, and grant such other relief or reliefs. Counsel for the Petitioner : MR.V.VENKATARAMANA Counsel for the Respondents.: GP FOR GENERAL ADMINISTRATION In WRIT PETITION NO : 20502 of 2008 Between: Sri M. Gopal Reddy, S/o. Late Sri M. Ranga Reddy, Ranga 70 MM Air Cooled Theatre R/o. Shapurnagar, IDA Jedimatla ..... PETITIONER AND 1 Government of Andhra Pradesh, Rep by Principal Secretary (General A) Department, Secretariat, Hyderabad 2 The Commissioner of Police, Hyderabad, Basheerbagh, Hyderabad. .....RESPONDENT(S) Petition under Article 226 of the constitution of India praying that in the circumstances stated in the Aﬃdavit ﬁled herein the High Court will be pleased to issue a writ of mandamus or any other appropriate writ declaring that the action of Respondent No. 2 contained in GO Ms.No. 176, Home (General-A) Department dated 8-9-2008 withdrawing GO Ms.No. 269, Home (General-A) Department dated 16-12-2005 as arbitrary and irrational and consequently, direct the respondents to permit the petitioner and other similarly situated cinema halls to charge extra rates for admission upto 75% of the existing rates for the two upper classes for the initial period of two weeks from the date of release of new films. Counsel for the Petitioner : MR. MPAPA REDDY Counsel for the Respondents : GP FOR HOME In WRIT PETITION NO : 21099 of 2008 Between: 1 Balaji A.C.Theatre, Eluru, West Godavari District, Rep. by its Manager V.Rama Rao S/o. Narasimha Rao 2 Sri Lakshmi Talkies, Tanuku, West Godavari District. Rep. by its Partner D.L.Satish Raju S/o. Satyanarayana Raju 3 Sri Lakshmi Narayana Talkies, Tadepalligudem, West Godavari District, Rep. by its Managing Partner, Y.V.Mohan S/o. Late Narayana Swamy 4 Sri Teja Theatres, Pakakol, West Godavari District, Rep. by its Managing Partner, A.L.Sujatha, W/o. Chanti 5 Sri Vijayalakshmi AC Theatre, Bhimavaram, West Godavari District, Rep. by its Proprietor B.Amarlal S/o. Sanjaylal. 6 Sri Veerabhadra Talkies, Nidadavolu, West Godavari District Rep. by its Proprietor B.A.Prasada Rao S/o. Late Adinarayana 7 Sri Tirumala Venkateswara Talkies,Chintalapudi,West Godavari District, Rep. by its J.V.N.S.Reddy S/o. Buraga Reddy 8 Sri Lakshmi Narayana AC Theatre, Jangareddy Gudem, West Godavari District, rep. by its Proprietor M.Nageswara Rao, S/o. Venkateswarlu, Aged: 55 yrs. 9 Vijaya Talkies, Akiveedu, West Godavari District, Rep. by its Managing Partner m.Sri Hari Raju, S/o. Jagannatha Raju ..... PETITIONER(S) AND 1 Government of A.P.( Home ), General-A Department, Secretariat, Hyderabad, Rep. by its Principal Secretary to Government. 2 The joint Collector and Licensing Authority, West Godavari District at Eluru. .....RESPONDENT(S) Petition under Article 226 of the constitution of India praying that in the circumstances stated in the Aﬃdavit ﬁled herein the High Court will be pleased to issue a writ of Mandamus or any other appropriate writ or direction declaring the action of the 1st respondent in issuing G.O.Ms.No. 176 dated 08-09-008 in withdrawing the G.O.Ms.no. 269 dated 16.12.2005 as illegal, arbitrary and pass Counsel for the Petitioner : MR. O.MANOHER REDDY Counsel for the Respondents : GP FOR HOME The Court made the following common order : THE HON’BLE MS JUSTICE G.ROHINI W.P. NOs.19925, 20090, 20502, 21099 of 2008 COMMON ORDER All these writ petitions with a common prayer to declare G.O.Ms.No.176, Home, (Gen.A) Department, dated.08-09-2008 thereby withdrawing G.O.Ms.No.269, Home (Gen.A) Department, dated. 16-12-2005 with immediate eﬀect as arbitrary and illegal, are heard together and decided by this common order. The petitioners in all the writ petitions are Cinema Theatres exhibiting feature ﬁlms in diﬀerent places in the State possessing licenses under the provisions of the A.P. Cinemas (Regulation) Act,1955 ( for short “the Act”) The 1st respondent-Government of A.P. issued G.O.Ms.No.269 dated.16-12-2005 to the eﬀect that the licensees of the theatres are at liberty to charge enhanced rate of admission into Cinema Hall up to 75% of the existing admission rates for the two Upper Classes for the initial period of two weeks from the date of release of a new ﬁlm. Pursuant thereto, the petitioners were charging enhanced rates of admission for the ﬁrst two weeks of release of a new ﬁlm following the procedure prescribed under G.O.Ms.No.269 dated.16-12-2005. While so, the impugned G.O.Ms.No.176, dated.08-09-2008 was issued withdrawing G.O.Ms.No.269 dated.16-12-2005 with immediate eﬀect on the basis of some representations said to have been made by the President of Telugu Film Producers Council, Hyderabad, the President of Film Chambers of Commerce and the President of Hyderabad Film Chambers of Commerce. Aggrieved by the same, the present writ petitions have been ﬁled contending inter alia that the impugned action of the 1st respondent in withdrawing the beneﬁt conferred under G.O.Ms.No.269, dated.16-12-2005 without giving an opportunity to the petitioners to make their representations, is arbitrary and illegal and in violation of principles of natural justice. It is also contended that as a matter of fact the representations referred to in the impugned G.O.Ms.No.176 dated.08-09-2008 made by the A.P. Film Chambers of Commerce and others were not for withdrawing the beneﬁt conferred under G.O.Ms.No.269 dated. 16-12-2005 but the request was to increase rates of admission reasonably instead of permitting escalation by 75% only for a period of two weeks. It is alleged that the 1st respondent without application of mind to the contents of the representation, erroneously withdrew G.O.Ms.No.269, dated.16-12-2005 thereby causing serious hardship to the petitioners and similarly situated Cinema Halls in the State. It is also the contention of the petitioners that the impugned order, which was not supported by any reasons for withdrawing the earlier Government Order passed for the purpose of increase in revenue both to the Government and the Film industry is irrational and amounts to arbitrary exercise of power. Heard the learned counsel for the petitioners as well as the learned Government Pleader for Home appearing for the respondents and perused the record relating to the impugned G.O.Ms.No. 176, Home, (Gen.A) Department, dated.08-09-2008 produced by the learned Government Pleader. The record placed before this Court reveals that a Committee consisting of the Chief Secretary Government of A.P., Principal Secretary to Government, Home Department, A.P., Principal Secretary to Government, Revenue(CT) Department, A.P., Principal Secretary to Government Finance Department, the Commissioner of Commercial Taxes, A.P., the Special Commissioner and Ex-Oﬃcial to Addl. Secretary to Government, Information and Public Relation Department, who is also the Managing Director of A.P. State Film Television and Theatre Development Corporation Limited and the Deputy Secretary to Govt. Home Department A.P. was constituted vide G.O.Rt.No.1072, Home (Gen.A-1) Department dated.04-06-2008 to examine the grievances represented by the Telugu Film Producers’ Council, A.P., Film Chamber of Commerce and the Hyderabad Film Chamber of Commerce. The said committee under the Chairmanship of Chief Secretary to Government met on 11-08-2008 to consider the representations made explaining certain diﬃculties being faced in the State by the Telugu Film Industry. After discussing the issues raised by the above said three Associations the Committee made certain recommendations including withdrawal of enhancement of rates of admission for the initial two weeks as under:- (9) Withdrawal of enhancement of rates of admission for the initial two weeks. The Telugu Film Producers Council and the Andhra Pradesh Film Chamber of Commerce have represented that the enhanced rates of admission up to 75% for the initial period of two weeks fro release of new ﬁlms were issued by the Government in the G.O.Ms.No.269, Home (General.A) Department, dated.16-12-2005; and they have requested for the withdrawal of the said Government orders, as it is not beneﬁcial to the Distributors and Exhibitors in Film Industry. In other words, the above enhanced rates for the initial two weeks have beneﬁted mainly the Film Producers. The Committee has deliberated in detail on the above issue and observed that as a result of the concession given on enhanced rate of admission up to 75% for the initial period of two weeks on release of new ﬁlms, only big budget ﬁlms have beneﬁted, and, as a result, low budget ﬁlms (even those with social and artistic signiﬁcance) are placed a disadvantageous position in obtaining cinema theaters for release of such ﬁlms. Hence, the Committee has accepted the request made by the Associations, and recommend for withdrawal of Government Orders issued in G.O.Ms.No.269, Home (Genl.A) Dept., dated.16-12-2005, regarding enhanced rate of admission up to 75% for the initial period of two weeks on release of new ﬁlms in the theaters. It is true that the impugned G.O.Ms.No.176 dated. 08-09-2008 except mentioning that the committee recommended for withdrawal of the earlier order issued in G.O.Ms.No.269, dated.6-12-2005 did not assign any reasons for the decision taken for withdrawal of G.O.Ms.No.269 dated.06- 12-2005 with immediate eﬀect. However, on a perusal of the record placed before this Court, particularly the minutes of the meeting dated.11-08-2008 in which the committee recommended for withdrawal of G.O.Ms.No.269 dated.6-12- 2005, it cannot be held that the impugned decision was taken by the 1st respondent without application of mind to the correctness of the representations made by the three Associations. It is also relevant to note that the said three Associations are not before this Court and these writ petitions are ﬁled by individual Cinema Theatres. Whether the petitioners are the members of the above said Associations or not is not known. Hence, the impugned order cannot be held to be illegal and violative of principles of natural justice merely on the ground that the individual theaters were not given an opportunity to make their representations before passing the impugned order. In the circumstances if aggrieved it is for the petitioners as well as other individual Cinema Theatres, if any, to approach the Government for reconsideration of the decision taken under the impugned G.O.Ms.No.176 dated.08-09-2008. The fact that the 1st respondent is competent to exercise the power under the Act and Rules made thereunder to ﬁx the rate of admission into Cinema Hall is not disputed before this Court. Hence, I deem it appropriate to dispose of the writ petitions granting liberty to the petitioners herein to make an appropriate representation before the 1st respondent putting forth their grievances and requesting to restore the beneﬁts conferred under G.O.Ms.No.269 dated.16-12-2005. If any such representation is made, the 1st respondent shall consider the same in accordance with law and pass appropriate orders within four weeks from the date of receipt of such representation. Accordingly these writ petitions are disposed of. No order as to costs. _____________ G. ROHINI, J. Dt.30.09.2008 *TSNR