Water Front Restaurant booked for charging excess for a Red Bull

Hyderabad: Legal Metrology Department in Hyderabad has registered three cases against The Water Front restaurant in Necklace road for violation of the provisions of Legal Metrology Act and rules. Based on the complaint by a consumer rights activist, District Legal Metrology Officer conducted inspections at the restaurant on October 15 and booked three cases against it.

The complainant had alleged that the restaurant is selling energy drinks such as Red Bull for more than the MRP. The Water Front restaurant collected Rs 195 from the complainant for a Red Bull worth Rs 99.

According to Section 18(2) of Legal Metrology (packaged Commodities) Rules 2011, “No retail dealer or other people including manufacturer, packer, importer and wholesale dealer shall make any sale of any commodity in the packed form at a price exceeding the retail sale price.”

Srikhande Umesh Kumar, Founder of Know Your Rights and a consumer activist, said, “Customers are being cheated openly by these hotels, restaurants and bars. They should never pay more than MRP on pre-packaged commodities. No GST is applicable over MRP. Hence, GST should not be paid over MRP. It is a violation of GST rules as well. Ignorance of these rules is costing consumers. While collecting above MRP, the establishment also collected GST on top of it.”

He further added that because of the violations, the Legal Metrology could book the institution under their rules, apart from the various violations found during the inspection. “I request the Legal Metrology Department to take immediate stringent action against The Water Front restaurant and should impose hefty fines.”

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