Karnataka - Bangalore

Legal Metrology rules to be amended

BANGALORE: Every producer, official, trader and manufacturer is first a consumer himself and it is the duty of all to safeguard rights of the consumer, said T. Singaravel, former controller of Legal Metrology, Government of Maharashtra.

Interacting with members of the Federation of Karnataka Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FKCCI) here on Saturday, Mr. Singaravel said the Legal Metrology Act was enacted for delivering social justice to the consumer and if the Act and the rules framed were not being enforced by some of the stake holders, it was a denial of rights to consumers.

Reacting to the questions raised by members of the FKCCI on “alleged harassment” by the officials of the Legal Metrology Department, Mr. Singaravel said the Government was thinking of bringing in some amendments to various schedules and withdrawing some of the schedules in the Act starting May 1.

This law gave undue advantage to the packaged commodities manufactured abroad and imported into India. They were not bound by the specified quantities in which the commodities were packed.

The net contents of such imported packages might not be within the maximum permissible error. Since the packaged commodities were packed not in the presence of the consumer, the trader should keep an additional electronic weighing machine in his establishment, he said.

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