Video theatres may return after HC order in Tamil Nadu

Televisionpoint.com Correspondent | Chennai
Video theatres, which were banned by the Tamil Nadu state government in 1998, may make a comeback, as the Madras High Court has quashed a government order denying renewal of licence to two such theatres.

Justice K Chandru, allowing the writ petitions of two video theatre owners from Dharmapuri and Erode, said the objective of the Video Cassette Recorders and Cable Television Network (Regulation) Act 1984 was to regulate exhibition of films through video theatres and not their curtailment.

Justice K Chandru said, "In the name of regulation, the authorities cannot totally curtail the right of the exhibitors to exhibit films in licensed video theatres."

K Duraisamy, senior counsel for the video theatre-owners, submitted that "since the legislature had enacted the act in 1984 giving conditional permission for exhibition of films in video theatres, no general direction could be issued by the state government, which will kill the very purpose of the enactment."

Once the legislature makes a general enactment and framed rules, it is for the appropriate licensing authority to consider the applications in accordance with the rules, and the government cannot stop the authorities from granting licence of renewal. The government told the court that unauthorised exhibition of new films by the video theatres resulted in loss of revenue to cinema halls, which ultimately affected the exchequer.

Justice Chandru, rejecting the justification, said the reason that it might affect the cinema halls could not be accepted because the object of the act is to regulate the exhibition of films through video cassette recorders and cable networks. Pointing out that the act provided for penalty, prosecution and confiscation of violators, he reiterated that the state cannot unilaterally take away the regulatory powers vested with the statutory authorities.