Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Jan 3: The Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld the cinema theatre owners’ right to regulate movie goers from carrying food and beverage from outside into the movie hall.
While it was the right of the movie-goers to decide whether to avail the food available in the movie hall, it was also the right of the owners to decide what food should be available in the hall, an apex court bench comprising Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud and Justice PS Narasimha ruled on Tuesday. “A cinema hall owner has the right to regulate the entry of food and beverage. Whether to consume what is available is entirely upon the choice of the movie goer. Viewers visit hall for entertainment,” the bench said. The court pointed out that a cinema hall was a private property of the owner and he was entitled to put terms and conditions that he deems fit provided the same were not contrary to public interest or safety. If a viewer enters a movie hall, he or she has to follow the rules laid down by its owner, and it is evidently a matter of commercial decision of theatre owner, the court said.
The court was hearing a petition that called for a ban on food from outside at cinemas. Cinema halls and multiplexes have the right to set terms and conditions and decide whether to allow food and beverages from outside, the Supreme Court ruled.
The bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice PS Narasimha set aside a Jammu and Kashmir High Court order that had removed the ban on people carrying their own food and water in theatres.
“The cinema hall is not a gym that you need healthy food. It is a place of entertainment. A cinema hall is private property. It is for the owner to decide subject to statutory rules. Saying that arms are not allowed or that no discrimination on basis of caste or gender can be there, is fine. But how can the High Court say that they can bring any food inside cinema halls?”
The judges said the High Court had overstepped its brief and asserted that cinemas have already been directed to provide, especially for children, free food and clean water. “It has been submitted movie hall owners that drinking water will be supplied free of charge and when an infant accompanies a parent, as a matter of practice hall owners do not object to reasonable amount of food for infant.” Whether or not to watch a movie is the choice of the viewer and once they enter the cinema hall, they have to abide by the management’s rules, they said.
The arguments took a hilarious turn when the judges tried to explain that point. “Suppose someone starts getting jalebis inside the cinema hall then the theatre’s management can stop them. If the viewer wipes his sticky fingers on the seats, then who will pay for the cleaning? People can also bring tandoori chicken. Then there will be complaints of bones left in the hall. That could also bother people. No one is forcing them to buy popcorn,” said Chief Justice Chandrachud.
“For water we can make a concession that free water be provided at movie theatres. But suppose they sell nimbu paani for ₹ 20, you can’t say I’ll go buy my nimbu from outside and squeeze it in a flask and make it inside the theatre.”
The Chief Justice shared an anecdote from the time he, as Bombay High Court Chief Justice, heard a case related to adult films shown after 11 pm on TV. “The aim was to enable adults to watch these films after the children went to sleep,” he said, sharing his conversation with a fellow judge.
“I asked the judge whether he had ever watched a movie after 11 pm. He said never, that is too late,” the Chief Justice grinned. It is children who stay up late, both the judges remarked.
The bench was hearing a batch of pleas filed by theatre owners and Multiplex Association of India challenging the 2018 verdict of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court dated back to July 18, 2018, when the Jammu and Kashmir High Court set aside a ban on food and drinks from outside in movie theatres. Because of the ban, people are forced to consume whatever is sold at the theatre, the High Court had said.
Senior Advocate KV Viswanathan submitted that precincts of cinema halls is not a public property and admission to such a hall is reserved by its owner. He further underlined that there is no compulsion to buy the food inside the movie halls.
Even as the top court agreed that the rules framed by the government did not prohibit brining outside food into cinema halls, it said the theatre owner has every right to carry on his trade by notifying terms and conditions. “It needs no emphasis that rule making power of the State has to be in consonance with the fundamental right of cinema hall owner to carry a business trade etc,” the bench said.
