Mumbai | The Bombay High Court on Tuesday sought the response of the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) to a petition filed by the makers of a movie purportedly based on Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's life, alleging delay in issuing certification.

The bench of Justices Revati Mohite Dere and Neela Gokhale also orally remarked that the CBFC was required to issue certificates within a timeline prescribed in law and hence cannot shy away from that obligation.

Samrat Cinematics, in its plea filed in the HC, questioned the CBFC's "arbitrary, unreasonable, and unexplained" delay in processing the certification applications for its film - "Ajey: The Untold Story of a Yogi", including its teaser, trailer and promotional song.

The movie, inspired by the book 'The Monk Who Became Chief Minister', which is purportedly based on Yogi Adityanath's life, was scheduled for theatrical release on August 1.

The plea came up for hearing on Tuesday before the HC bench when a CBFC official sought time to engage a lawyer.

The court agreed and issued notice to the censor board. The matter will be heard on July 17.

The makers' counsel Ravi Kadam and advocates Satatya Anand and Nikhil Aradhe said the CBFC has till date not even scheduled a screening of the movie, teaser and promotional song.

The CBFC has grossly failed to act upon the application(s) within the statutory timelines laid down under the Cinematograph Act, 1952 and the Cinematograph (Certification) Rules, 2024, the plea said.

The makers also questioned the CBFC's "erroneous, extraneous and baseless" demand for a No Objection Certificate from the Chief Minister's Office of Uttar Pradesh, and said there is no such requirement in law.

The petition states that the filmmakers first applied for certification of the main film on June 5, 2025.

As per Rule 37 of the Certification Rules, the CBFC is required to scrutinise applications within seven days and refer the film for screening within 15 days. Despite this, no action was taken for nearly a month.

On July 3, the petitioners reapplied under the 'priority scheme' and paid three times the standard fee as per Rule 33(2), following advice from CBFC officials.

A screening was scheduled for July 7, but was abruptly cancelled the day before, without any further communication.