The Bombay High Court has dismissed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking to address the issue of ticket scalping and black marketing of online tickets for concerts and live events, which arose following allegations of irregularities during the sale of tickets for the recent Coldplay concert.

A bench of Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Amit Borkar ruled that the matter "falls within the purview of police" and thereby refrained from any intervention.

Thousands of people's complaints were brought to light in the petition, alleging that tickets for the Coldplay concert, available on the online booking platform BookMyShow, were sold on the black market. Thus, the petition sought the formation of guidelines to curb black marketing, ticket touting, and scalping of online tickets for concerts and other events.

The petitioner contended that these illegal practices infringed the fundamental rights of consumers, particularly the “fundamental right to have equal opportunity of buying tickets and getting access to entertainment and live events.” It was also submitted that the prevalence of such practices has caused a significant economic loss to the public exchequer as well.

After due consideration, the bench had reserved its judgment on January 2, 2025, while noting that the issue falls under the ambit of the executive and law enforcement authorities and recommended exploring other remedies available to the petitioner, such as filing a First Information Report (FIR) or a complaint under the Consumer Protection Act if consumer rights were violated.

The order is expected to be uploaded soon.

Case title: Amit Vyas v. Union of India, PIL/89/2024
Source: News