New Delhi: A public interest litigation (PIL) has been filed in the Delhi High Court against the illegal, manipulative, and exploitative practice of "ticket scalping" -- the reselling of event tickets at inflated prices for profit at the expense of the general public.
This PIL has been filed in relation of the upcoming concert of singer Diljit Dosanjh. It is listed before the bench of Chief Justice for hearing on Wednesday.
The petition has been moved by Rohan Gupta through advocates Jatin Yadav, Daksh Gupta, Gaurav Dua, and Saurabh Dua.
The petition states that in July 2024, Karan Aujla announced his concert dates for his India tour. In August -September, Diljit Dosanjh announced his concert dates for his India tour.
On September 10, tickets under pre-sale for HDFC Bank Pixel cardholders were available for purchase for concert of Diljit Dosanjh. On September 12, General sale of tickets for concert of Diljit Dosanjh were made available, the plea said.
It is stated that on September 16, an Advisory issued by Respondent Zomato Limited stating tickets purchased from platforms of Respondents STUBHUB INDIA PRIVATE LIMITED, VIAGOGO and TICOMBO were declared to be invalid.
On September 22, the Tickets for the concert of "Coldplay" went on sale, the plea said. In October, Concert and similar live performing events scheduled to take place in India, it added.
The plea has stated that the predatory resellers engaging in unethical practice of ticket scalping makes events less accessible to genuine fans and allowing unscrupulous scalpers to exploit high demand.
This practice undermines the principles of fair market and, in many cases, involves the use of bots or unethical tactics to hoard tickets before legitimate buyers have a chance, the plea stated.
It is stated that the malpractice of ticket scalping distorts the fairness of the ticket-buying process and undermines the fan experience by creating an environment where only those willing to pay exorbitant amounts can attend events.
Such events are often meant to unite communities, foster cultural appreciation, and provide joy across social strata, but scalping turns them into exclusive experiences for those who can pay inflated price.
This further widens the gap between different socioeconomic groups, eroding the sense of fairness in access to entertainment, the plea said. It is alleged that scalping fosters a black market where fraudulent and counterfeit tickets become more prevalent, further exploiting consumers.
It is further alleged that Ticket scalping is further having detrimental effect on the government revenue as scalping transactions are currently occurring through informal or unregulated channels, with much of the revenue escaping the official tax system or through formal system whereby entities established in foreign countries deprive the Union of India from collecting their share of the revenue.
This untracked, untaxed income contributes to the growth of a shadow economy, depriving the state of funds that could otherwise support public services, infrastructure, or community development, the plea claimed.
The petitioner said that there is a requirement of a robust legal framework, legal enforcement, and technological measures to curb the negative effects of ticket scalping and promote fair ticketing practices to ensure a more equitable and transparent system for the protection of consumers and further ensure the revenue generated from such practice is integrated into the legal economy.
—ANI