Delhi HC asks Centre’s response over resale of concert tickets, blocking illegal sites

PTI, Oct 24, 2024, 1:59 PM IST

The Delhi High Court on Thursday sought the response of the Centre on a plea seeking a regulatory framework to regulate the resale of concert tickets through authorised platforms and avoid illegal selling activities.

A bench of Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela issued notice to Union ministries of Information and Broadcasting and Electronics, and Information Technology, private entities Stubhub Inc, Viagogo Entertainment Inc and Bigtree Entertainment Pvt Ltd on the petition.

The court said the replies would have to be filed within four weeks and posted the hearing on February 18, 2025, when a similar petition would be heard.

The petition further sought a direction to the Centre to block unlawful online platforms involved in the purported illegal and unauthorised sale of tickets in India.

Petitioner Samridhi and four others, represented by senior advocate Rajshekhar Rao and advocate Malak Bhatt, referred to an upcoming music concert by British rock band Coldplay.

The plea said the online ticketing platforms such as BookmyShow (BMS) ought to provide a convenient digital ticketing solution to the public and help keep a check on black-marketing and unauthorised sale of tickets.

“Yet, the announcement of sought-after events such as cricket matches, live entertainment shows or musical concerts by several renowned artists such as Diljit Dosanjh, Coldplay, etc., are followed by a rampant increase of black-marketing activities whereby tickets for admission to such events are sold at an exorbitant premium through unauthorised and unlawful means by exploiting the general public at large,” the plea said.

It said Coldplay had partnered with BMS for sale of its concert tickets and had announced it to the public to avoid any unauthorised sale of its tickets but other platforms too had gone live with the illegal and unauthorised sale of tickets.

It said Bigtree Entertainment Pvt Ltd, which owns BMS, ought to implement safeguards to prevent repeated wide-spread unauthorised sale of tickets to avoid the ticket “bots” from securing large number of tickets to be sold in an unauthorised manner.

The plea urged the court to direct the Centre to block the re-sellers from operating in India in an unlawful and illegal manner.

The bench headed by the chief justice had previously sought responses from the Centre and the Delhi government on a PIL alleging “illegal, manipulative and exploitive” practice of ticket scalping, wherein event tickets are resold to people at inflated prices.

The plea contended that the malpractice of ticket scalping distorted the fairness of the ticket-buying process and undermined the fan experience by creating an environment where only those willing to pay exorbitant amounts could attend events.

It sought a direction for the constitution of a committee to look into the issue alleging the same happened during the bookings of “Dil-Luminati Tour” of Dosanjh scheduled to take place on October 26 at the JLN Stadium in the national capital.