Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Jan 15: Acting on the complaints of consumers being overcharged on the packaged drinking cola either on the pretext of Additional VAT or service charges in the restaurants, the officers of Legal Metrology with the help of Police Department conducted extensive checking of restaurants, fruit sellers, Dry fruit sellers and other trades dealing with tourist purchase in Bahu Plaza and railway station area.
According to Manoj Prabhakar, Deputy Controller Consumer Protection, lot of complaints were coming from the Shiv Market and Mangal Market regarding overcharging and short weighment on the sale of dry fruit and wooden box of apples to the tourist, thereby giving bad name to our State.
The team of the Deputy Controller and SDPO East sent dummy consumers to one fruit seller at Shiv Market to establish the complaints and found that complaint was genuine and the tourist were charged at the exorbitant rates of Rs 1000 for one wooden pack of apples for 16 kg.
On weighment the same pack delivered 13 kg and the quality was also very poor. On demand of purchase vouchers it came to know that the said apples were purchased for Rs 450 only, thereby heavily overcharged to the consumers.
Similarly dry fruits were sold to the consumers in the pack marked with 1 kg net weight at Mangal Market but actual net weight on weighment resulted to only half kg.
Both the traders were booked under the relevant law enforced for the purpose and cases registered.
On inspection of Dominos and Smokin Joes Restaurant it was also found that the substandard weighment practices were adopted by these Restaurants and selling coca cola with inflated MRP’s of Rs 50 for 600 ml which is easily available with Rs 35 in the market. Moreover the consumers are made to Pay more on the pretext of service charges or applying additional VAT thereby selling it more than MRP which is an offence under law.
Directions were issued on the spot not to overcharge and cases registered.
The team also inspected fruit sellers at Bahu Plaza chowk which were selling at higher rates and their weighing and measuring instruments were also defective. All such instruments were seized and it was ensured that all such fruit sellers will prominently display the rates of each item on daily basis after adding the approved profit on the wholesale rates as decided by the Govt, failing which legal action as warranted under law will be initiated against them.
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