As you know, adhering with the legal compliances are really important. Every person dealing in weight or measures or weights and measuring instruments. With the increase of compliances, it becomes difficult to perform and abide by all the legal compliances on your own.
Offences made under legal metrology can cause difficulty for you if you are dealing with non-standard weight or measure in anyway. Let us dive into the post to understand what exactly the consequences could be for committing offence under legal metrology regarding non-standard use of weight and measure.
Never use, manufacture or sale non-standard weight or measure.
Using, manufacturing or selling any weight or measure which is not up to the mark in accordance with the standards of legal metrology act, is not allowed. It is a punishable offence under legal metrology act 2009. It may attract heavy penalties and imprisonment.
| Type of offence | Departmental level | Court of Law | Second time offences |
| Using non-standard product | Rs. 2500 | Up to Rs. 25000 | Up to 6 months imprisonment and also with fine up to Rs. 25000. |
| Manufacturing or selling non-standard products | Rs. 2000 | Up to Rs. 20000 | Up to 3 years imprisonment or fine of Rs. 20000 or both. |
Also, never use unverified weight or measure. It may attract a penalty of Rupees not less than 2000 and may extend to Rs. 10000 and imprisonment thereof.
No alteration allowed
Alteration or tampering any weight or measure to deceive any person is a punishable offence. It may invite heavy penalties.
Exception:- Alteration for making any correction of error identified on verification.
No Quoting or Publishing of non-standard units.
No person shall quote or make announcement of any non-standard unit of weight or measure. Violation of section 11 of legal metrology act is punishable with fine extending to imprisonment or both.
Mystery of Ramesh and Suresh
It is with reference to Ramesh and Suresh, the two characters of 5-star advertisement who visits the tailor shop to get their father’s trousers shortened.
No Deal or Contract in non-standard weights
Any transaction done, deal made or contract entered in contrary to the standards prescribed under section 10 of legal metrology act, is a punishable offence.
It also includes demanding or receiving any product in excess or less than the quantity specified by contract.
Cadbury India Limited was found accused of violating the section 11 of Legal metrology act 2009. It was stated that they have violated the section 11 of the act by using the certain expression, which is a non-metric system of length, in their advertisement of 5-star chocolate.
On the contrary to which Cadbury India Limited filed a writ petition in Hon’ble High court of Karnataka.
Non-production of Documents
Any person who fails to produce or submit any documents or keep the record of any documents, as obligatory by the Director, Controller or any legal metrology officer, without any genuine reason, is punishable under legal metrology act 2009.
Fine upto Rs. 5000 and for the second time, it may result into imprisonment upto 1 year. Both fine and imprisonment are also applicable as decided by the Hon’ble Court of law.
The Unverified Models
If you fail to get your model approved or use any unverified model of weight or measure shall be punished with a fine.
| Failure to get model approved | Fine which may extend to Rs. 20,000. | For subsequent offence, Imprisonment which may extend to 1 year. |
| Use of any unverified model | Fine not less than Rs. 2000, may extend to Rs. 10,000. |
Non-standard packages
Be aware if you’re selling or rendering any services by non-standard weight or measure. Any person who sells any commodity or renders any services by non-standard measures, is punishable under section 34 and 35 of legal metrology act 2009.
Also, Manufacturing, packing, selling & Import of any non-standard packages is not allowed. Pre-packed commodity without any declarations mentioned on it, shall not be entertained.
| Sections | Fine imposed | Subsequent offence | |
| 34 | Penalty for sale or delivery of commodities, etc., by non-standard weight or measure |
Rs. 2000- Rs. 5000 |
Imprisonment of 3 Months-1 Year |
| 35 | Penalty for rendering services by non-standard weight, measure or number. | ||
| 36 | Penalty for selling, etc., of non-standard packages. | < Rs. 25,000 and for second time it may extend to Rs. 50000 | Rs. 50,000-Rs. 1,00,000 OR Imprisonment OR BOTH. |
Penalty for Importers and manufacturers
Any import or manufacture of non-standard weight or measure and import without registration is a punishable offence under legal metrology act. Heavy penalties are levied on the negligent importers and manufacturers.
(Promotion- Legal metrology India helps you to register as a importer/manufacturer……)
Obstructing the Officers
Never ever interrupt the Director, controller or any officer, with intention to obstruct him to perform his duties and powers of legal metrology. It follows a direct imprisonment.
First offence- Imprisonment upto 2 years.
Next offence- Imprisonment upto 5 years.
Any false records presented to legal metrology Director, Controller or officer shall be punishable with the fine upto Rs. 5000 OR imprisonment upto 6 months OR both, as the case may be.
Non-compliances under legal metrology can attract heavy penalities and even imprisonment. One needs to be aware of all the consequences for violating laws under legal metrology.
