Outside Food To Be Allowed In Cinema Halls, says Maharashtra Govt

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Maharashtra Food Supplies Minister Ravindra Chavan on Friday during the ongoing Assembly Session in Nagpur provided a major relief to people who spend huge sums of money on eatables in the cinema halls.

He said that there is no restriction on taking outside food in cinema halls, theatres, and multiplexes. He also stated that action will be taken against the theatres’ employees and owners if people are denied from carrying outside food. He also added that there cannot be a different price tag on the same food product sold at multiplexes and outside.

Chavan said that the government is working on a resolution and would come out within next six weeks. He said that the eatables sold in the cinema halls would be sold on MRP from 1 August.

Chavan spoke on the motion by Maharashtra NCP Legislative Council (Upper House) Leader of Opposition (LOP) Dhananjay Munde, who asked the government for clarification on whether outside food is permissible in theatres or not and whether there is any law.

Last month, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) party workers thrashed a movie theatre manager over high prices of food items in the movie hall in Pune’s PVR.

Earlier, The Bombay High Court directed the state to examine the Bombay Police Act to see if it can be used to regulate prices of eatables being sold in cinema halls.

A bench of justices Ranjit More and Anuja Prabhudessai, during the hearing, also slammed the state on why it could not regulate the prices of food items being sold at exorbitant rates in multiplexes.

The court refused  to grant an urgent hearing to the Multiplexes Owners Association which had approached it over the recent attacks on multiplexes. The court also refused to issue any directions on the issue and said the aggrieved parties were free to approach the police in case of any incident of violence against them.