The Telangana High Court on Thursday suspended the memo issued by the Special Chief Secretary (Home) permitting a hike in ticket prices for the premier show of Telugu film Akhanda-2, scheduled to be screened at 8 pm

The single bench of Justice N V Shravan Kumar heard three writs moved by way of a lunch motion, challenging the State’s decision to enhance the ticket price to `600, including GST.

The court expressed sharp disapproval of the department’s action, observing that the SCS had violated the government’s own order, GO 120 dated, December 21, 2021, which prescribes fixed rates and explicitly disallows hikes for benefit or premier shows.

Justice Kumar warned that the court would initiate contempt proceedings against the officer responsible, noting that the government had previously given an undertaking that no such price increase would be permitted.

The bench recalled its earlier order in WP 29214 of 2025, where similar concerns were raised and the government was cautioned against issuing permissions inconsistent with statutory rate notifications.

Several writs challenging repeated permissions granted to film producers to increase ticket prices are already pending, with the State yet to file its counter.

Suspending memo 6593-P/General A1/2025, dated December 10, 2025, the court directed the registry to immediately communicate the order to the SCS (Home) and to M/s 14 Reels Plus LLP for strict compliance. The case was posted to December 12 for further hearing.