PANAJI: The Controller of Legal Metrology has appealed to all the respective agencies to prevent overcharging in respect of masks, sanitizers etc, so that their availability and affordability is guaranteed to the health service providers and consumers at large.
The Legal Metrology Department has informed that Section 18(1) of the Legal Metrology Act, 2009 provides that “no person will manufacture, pack, sell, import, distribute, deliver, offer, expose or possess for sale any pre-packaged commodity unless such packaged is in such standard quantities or number and bears thereon such declarations and particulars in such manner as may be prescribed.”
The Act further states that “no retail dealer or other person including manufacturer, packer, importer, and wholesale dealer will make any sale of any commodity in packed form at a price exceeding the retail sale price thereof.”The penal provision for violation of these sections includes a fine which may extend to Rs 25,000, for the second offence, a fine which may extend to Rs 50,000 and for the subsequent offence, with fine which will not be less than Rs 50,000 and which may extend to Rs one lakh or with imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year or with both.
