The State Human Rights Commission action chairman P. Mohandas has ordered to issue notices to departments concerned and associations of theatre owners on a petition that exorbitant rates were being charged on food and beverages sold at multiplexes in shopping malls in Kochi and elsewhere in the State. The order was issued at the second day of the sitting of the Commission held at the collectorate conference hall on Saturday.
Even a bottle of drinking water with a maximum retail price of Rs.20 was being sold at double that price while popcorn of various flavours are sold in the jaw dropping price range of Rs.140 to Rs.360. The Commission also directed to issue notice to Bar Council Secretary, Chief Secretary and Director General of Police on a petition by a civil right activist that a ban on media remains in force at courts in the State.
Directions were also given to issue notices to authorities concerned on various petitions regarding increasing incidents of pick pocketing on private buses in the city during nights, eve teasing of women in public transport network and Mulavukad road development.
The sitting considered 54 petitions out of which 14 were settled while the Commission received 25 fresh complaints. The pending cases were postponed for hearing at the next sitting scheduled for November 9.
