Delhi govt prosecutes 1740 people for cheating consumers

Delhi government has prosecuted 1740 traders so far for allegedly cheating consumers buying various pre-packaged commodities.
Total prosecution done by the Department of Weight and Measures in the first five months of current financial year is 125 per cent more than the corresponding period of the last year, said Sajjan Singh Yadav, Commissioner Food Supplies & Consumer Affairs.
Moreover, the compounding fee collected from the violators has also gone up from Rs 33.7 lakh last year to Rs 59.33 lakh in the first five months of the current fiscal.
The Department has taken up a special drive in the wake of increasing complaints received about the violation of the Packaged Commodity Rules 2011, Yadav said.

"As per the Legal Metrology Act 2009 and Packaged Commodities Rules 2011, every pre-packaged commodity must have certain declarations so that the consumers are well informed of the commodity inside the package and are thus not cheated by the manufacturers, importers and retailers," he said.
Each package must have the name and address of the manufacturers and packers. For imported packaged commodity, the package must contain the name and address of the importer.

Common or generic name of the commodity contained in the package along with the net quantity of the commodity should also be mentioned.
It should also mention the month and year in which the commodity is manufactured or pre-packaged or imported and retail sale price of the package.

"Rules also make it mandatory to provide opportunity to the consumers to file complaints. To facilitate this, every package shall bear name, address telephone number, e-mail address,( if available) of the person who can be contacted in case of consumer complaints.
"It has also been noticed that some traders fix a sticker containing revised MRP on the package or simply strike off the original MRP and write revised MRP. This is not permitted. It is only when the maximum retail price (MRP) is to be reduced, sticker with the lower MRP may be fixed and the same shall not cover MRP declaration made by manufacturer or the packer on the label of the package," said Yadav.

An offence under the Legal Metrology Act 2009 is punishable with fine which may extend to Rs 10,000 and for the second or subsequent offences, with imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year.