Don’t let it weigh you down

Pushpa Girimaji

Recently I bought a kilogram of badam burfi. Since the box was being weighed with the sweets, I asked the seller what was the weight of the box. I was told that it was 100 gm and he would adjust the weight. However, after we consumed the sweets, out of curiosity, I weighed the box and was shocked to find that it weighed 250 gm.  I was cheated of 150 gm sweets. What action can I take against the shopkeeper?

Please send a written complaint along with a copy of the cash receipt given by the sweetmeat shop to the department of legal metrology. Since this is likely to be a regular practice at that shop, they need to go as decoy customers, buy from him and take appropriate action and publicise it so that others are not cheated. Section 30 of the Legal Metrology Act says that whoever, in selling any article or thing by weight, measure or number, delivers or causes to be delivered to the purchaser any quantity or number, less than the quantity or number contracted for or paid for, shall be punished with a fine which may extend to Rs 10,000, and for the second or subsequent offence, with imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year, or with fine, or both. 

In addition, you can also lodge a complaint before the consumer court. Under the Consumer Protection Act, selling much less than the quantity paid for, constitutes an unfair trade practice and you can seek from the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum, compensation for the loss and harassment caused to you. In a case like this, you can also roughly calculate the loss caused to consumers as a class on account of short-weighing by the retailer and ask the consumer court to direct the retailer to deposit the money with the Consumer Welfare Fund.  

  In  Hotel Nyay Mandir Vs Ishwar Lal Jinabhai Desai (RP No  550 of 2006, decided on December 14, 2010), the highest consumer court  upheld such a plea made by the complainant and directed a seller to pay Rs 1,50,000 to the Consumer Welfare Fund and also pay the consumer Rs 5,000 as compensation and Rs 1,000 as costs. This was a case of overcharging on the MRP.

In future, I would suggest that whenever you buy sweets, demand that the box be first weighed in your presence, to determine its weight. You don’t have to feel hesitant about making such a demand. After all, you have a right to get the quantity that you pay for.

Can you quote a recent order of the consumer court pertaining to cheating on weight?  

A case pertaining to underweight milk sachet was decided by the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission in 2012. (Punjab Milk Fed and ors Vs Dr Rajinder Singla, RP No 4086 of 2007, decided on March 29, 2012.) 

The complaint has its origin in the 500ml packet of milk purchased by the complainant in Chandigarh in 2002. On suspicion that the packet was underweight, he got it weighed at a store and found that it weighed only 360ml. When his complaint to the milk federation did not elicit a positive response, he took the complaint to the Controller of Weights and Measures, Chandigarh, who weighed the sachet in the presence of a representative of the manufacturer as well as the complainant and noted that it did indeed weigh only 360ml. As a consequence, the milk federation paid Rs 15,000 towards compounding of fee to the department. 

However, in response to the complaint filed by the consumer before the consumer court, the milk federation contended that it was unfair to blame the federation as the packet had obviously been tampered with.  While the sachets are sealed straight at their automated plant, the seal of this packet was slanted, indicating tampering. However, the National Commission decided the case in favour of the consumer on two grounds — one, the federation had accepted the charge of underweight package and paid the compounding fee, and two, it had not led any evidence in support of the fact that the package was tampered with. So, it directed the federation to pay the consumer Rs 25,000 as compensation, besides Rs 5,000 as costs. In addition, Rs 25,000 was paid to the State Legal Aid Authority.