HYDERABAD: Are you irked while buying that expensive water bottle from the shelf due to lack of product variety? Well, with the new set of guidelines issued by the State legal metrology department, the practice is soon set to end.
Come September, theatres and multiplexes will have to “avoid keeping” only one brand of water bottle. According to an order dated July 20 released by the metrology department, “officers will brief the owners to avoid keeping only one brand of water etc., and give options to the consumer else restrictive practices may be found.”
This order is in regard to the repeated complaints raised by several consumers on how certain multiplex chains were promoting only a particular brand of the commodity to be sold on their premises. For instance, at PVR multiplexes only water bottles of PVR - DIVE, priced at `60 for 600 ml, is sold.
In the same way, Schweppes, `60 for a 1-litre water bottle is sold at Inox. But, products like Kinley, Aquafina, or Bisleri sell a one-litre bottle for `20. According to the Consumer Protection Act, 1986, restrictive trade practice is an offence which is liable to be punished. The department has set September 1 as a deadline for management to change the sticker of MRP with net contents, weight, and volume.
‘Dual pricing violation of law’
Similarly, the concept of dual pricing, where a product holds two maximum retail prices depending on the outlet it is sold, is also prohibited. The department has taken a serious view of vendors in multiplexes and cinema theatres