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Coldplay ticket chaos: Bombay HC rejects plea on rules to curb black marketing
The petition alleged irregularity and illegality were witnessed when tickets for the Coldplay concert were made available on the online platform BookMyShow
The Bombay high court on Friday rejected a plea seeking guidelines to curb black marketing and ticket scalping at major events.
The decision comes in wake of alleged foul play in the ticket sale for British band Coldplay's concert in Navi Mumbai this month.
According to a PTI report, the division bench of Chief Justice DK Upadhyaya and Justice Amit Borkar stated that the issues raised in the plea pertained to the legislative domain, and hence the court could not intervene.
"This is a legislative and executive decision. The court cannot interfere. The government is at liberty to formulate legislation addressing the concerns raised in the petition," the bench said.
According to the PTI report, the bench said,"However, in the event that the competent authority (of the government) considers it necessary, they remain at liberty to take appropriate legislative or executive measures to address the concerns highlighted by the petitioner.
The court permitted the petitioner to make a representation before the competent authority.
Petition alleged irregularities during sale of tickets
In his petition, advocate Amit Vyas claimed several irregularities and illegalities occurred during the sale of tickets for major events such as concerts, live shows, etc.
Vyas alleged that such irregularity and illegality were witnessed when tickets for the Coldplay concert were made available on the online platform BookMyShow.
ALSO READ: Coldplay tickets row: BookMyShow lodges FIR against unauthorised sale, Mumbai concerts to proceed as planned
The plea sought the court to issue stringent guidelines to prevent black marketing, touting and scalping of online tickets for major events, the PTI report added.
It said that such illegal means were rampant during the IPL matches, the cricket World Cup matches in 2023, and the concerts of singers Taylor Swift and Diljit Dosanjh.
ALSO READ: Chris Martin's band Coldplay gets notice ahead of Ahmedabad concert: 'No children on stage'
The petitioner alleged that “organisers and ticketing partners exploit fans by listing the tickets on secondary websites at exorbitant prices.”
"The sale of online tickets was apparently manipulated by the BookMyShow platform in such a manner that even before mid-noon on the day the tickets were made available, people got logged out and were not allowed to access the website to purchase tickets," the PIL alleged.
It claimed within minutes, the tickets for all three shows were shown as sold out on BookMyShow, though they were later found available on a secondary website at exorbitant prices.
Last year, Vyas also filed a complaint regarding this with the city police's economic offences wing, and an inquiry is underway.
(With PTI inputs)
