KOCHI: The Supreme Court verdict enabling restaurants to sell mineral water above MRP has put Legal Metrology Department (LMD) in a catch-22 situation. The LMD officers are apprehensive that the SC verdict is likely to give an opportunity for hotels, multiplexes and traders to sell packaged drinks at a price higher than the MRP.In Kerala, over the past six months alone, around 50 hotels and traders were fined for selling mineral water above MRP.
Anti-corruption and RTI activist advocate D B Binu, who is involved in several consumer redressal cases said the verdict would have an adverse effect on Kerala. “Surely, the verdict will affect the consumers. While the government is running a campaign asking the public not to pay above MRP, the verdict would definitely make the campaigns ineffective. The government should come out with an amendment to the law so that MRP is regularised and consumer’s rights protected,” he said.
Similar to the case in the Supreme Court, the Kerala High Court had considered a similar case in 2013. The case was related to Legal Metrology Department taking legal steps against a hotel for charging above MRP on packaged drinks. Though the single bench verdict was against Legal Metrology Department, a Division Bench nullified the earlier order in the same year.
R Ram Mohan, Deputy Controller, Legal Metrology Department, said the verdict will have a severe consequence. “It is clearly stated in Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Rules 18(2) that no retail dealer or another person including manufacturer, packer, importer and the wholesale dealer shall make any sale of any commodity in packed form at a price exceeding the retail sale price. The SC permitted hotels to charge above MRP after defining Packaged section 2(b)(c) of Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Rules. The verdict of the division bench of the Kerala High Court favouring us would no more be applicable in the wake of the SC verdict,” he said.
The officers are apprehensive that a ban on dual pricing by the Central Government from January would no more be effective in the wake of the SC judgment. “Most of the complaints regarding dual pricing is on the price of mineral water. Now, as SC permits hotels to sell above MRP, the hotels can sell without looking at the MRP. After hotels, those running theatres, food stalls at airports and railway stations will start overcharging citing the SC verdict,” an officer said.
Though the SC verdict is applicable only to the sale of mineral water in hotels and restaurants, the MRP of other packaged drinks would be challenged in future, LMD officers said. “Mineral water and other packaged drinks come under the same category as per the Packaged Commodity rule. In future, the traders can raise the price of packaged goods above MRP citing the SC ruling on mineral water,” the officer said.