one pacific oil co. Filed under bombay high court Seeking guidelines to curb black market marketing and scalping There was an alleged foul play during the online ticket sales process for British band Coldplay’s much-anticipated concert to be held in Navi Mumbai in January 2025. Mitte Bokar.
The public interest litigation (PIL) filed by advocate Amit Vyas said there were some irregularities and illegalities in the process of ticket sales for major events such as concerts and live performances.
This type of irregularity and illegal behavior has been commonplace when tickets were sold last month. Coldplay concert Already provided in Book my show This is a platform, he claimed in his petition.
A defense lawyer for Vyas told the HC that certain secondary websites were still selling Coldplay concert tickets at exorbitant prices.
The bench noted that police investigation was ongoing and set the matter for hearing in November after the Diwali holiday.
The plea asks the court to lay down strict guidelines to prevent black marketing, ticket scalping and online ticket scalping for such major events.
The PIL alleged that such illegal tactics were rampant during IPL matches, 2023 Cricket World Cup matches and concerts of singers Taylor Swift and Diljit Dosanjh.
During such events, organizers and ticketing partners allegedly exploit fans by listing tickets at exorbitant prices on secondary ticketing websites.
The petition alleges that the most recent such violation occurred last month when tickets for a Coldplay concert to be held in January 2025 were sold on the online ticketing website BookMyShow.
“Online ticket sales were apparently manipulated by the BookMyShow platform, and even before noon on the day the tickets went on sale, people were logged out and not allowed to access the website to purchase tickets,” PIL claimed.
Within minutes, tickets for all three shows were showing as sold out on the BookMyShow portal, although the tickets were later found to be overpriced on secondary websites.
Vyas lodged the same complaint with the economic crimes unit of the city police last month and an investigation is underway.
In his plea, Vyas said such illegal conduct deprived people of their fundamental right to equal access to public entertainment.
“The Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) Rules, 2020 requires e-commerce entities to ensure fair and non-deceptive conduct. However, due to lack of effective regulation in the ticketing industry, entities like BookMyShow are not complying with the rules,” the PIL claimed.
Coldplay India Show: Will black marketeers be punished?
