Kamal Ghorui
HYDERABAD: The Telangana high court initiated suo-motu contempt proceedings against the Special Chief Secretary (Home department) for permitting a hike in ticket rates for the latest Tollywood release Mana Shankara Vara Prasad Garu starring Chiranjeevi and Nayantara.Senior IPS officer CV ANand currently h0lds the post of Special Chief Secretary (Home). A bench of Justice NV Shravan Kumar passed the directions while hearing a petition filed by Dachepally Chandra Babu, an advocate from LB Nagar.The court took serious note of orders hiking ticket rates for certain movies in repeated violation of the high court orders and passed the directions.His counsel Vijay Gopal argued that the memo allowing the movie makers to hike ticket rates had been issued in violation of the high court orders and the rules in place, while questioning the legality allowing an increase of Rs 50 for single-screen theatres and Rs 100 for multiplexes for seven days. He urged the court to suspend the memo and also initiate contempt proceedings against the officer.When the petitioner moved a house motion on January 10, the court refused to take up the matter and directed him to come back after the vacation, following which he moved the petition afresh.
