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Govt waits for complaints to act on overpriced masks

Last Updated 06 March 2020, 22:51 IST

Despite its impressive field strength of 40 assistant commissioners, 107 inspectors and six deputy commissioners, the Department of Legal Metrology is yet to raid pharmacists selling masks at inflated prices.

On the contrary, officials say they are waiting for consumer complaints in order to initiate action.

Asked about surprise inspections, the department’s assistant controller (technical) Kumar told DH it has 26 enforcement officers in Bengaluru and 169 across Karnataka, but half of the sanctioned posts are empty.

"Three of our squads in Bengaluru and 10 across the state do verification. They can also do 'test purchases'. But each officer has a dual charge. We’ve asked them to conduct inspections, but are yet to get field reports," Kumar said.

Formerly known as the Department of Weights and Measures, the legal metrology department makes sure products are sold at MRP printed on the package.

"As per the rules, each director of the company that inflates prices can be fined Rs 2,000 and a further Rs 2,000 on the company. If the company has five directors, we can fine them Rs 10,000 and Rs 2,000 on the company," Kumar said. The rules also provide for imprisonment of repeat offenders.

When informed that commercial tax officials in Belagavi, Bagalkot and Vijayapura caught 35 medical shops overpricing masks, hand sanitisers and napkins and fined them Rs 7 lakh, Nithesh Patil, additional commissioner for enforcement in Bengaluru (south zone), commercial tax department, admitted no inspections were held in the city or the surrounding districts. "The commercial tax department can take action if the shops give no bills on purchases, but not when they overprice,” he said. "Since shopkeepers wouldn’t give bills when they overprice items, we can take action and it’d be a deterrent (against overpricing)."

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(Published 06 March 2020, 19:16 IST)

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