In a bid to stop harassment of small shopkeepers, the Union Consumer Affairs Minister Piyush Goyal on Tuesday directed his department’s officials as well as states to convene a meeting next week on the issues pertaining to the certain provisions of decriminalize the Legal Metrology Act. The minister pointed out that in 2018-19, the cases of first offence were 89,724 and the second offence only 11. “In 2019-20, the first offence cases were 92,000 while second offence only two while in 2020-21 the first offence cases were 85,000 and second offence zero,” "I fail to understand that after the first offence, which is compoundable, how the number of cases for second offence, which can actually put you behind bars, which is criminal, comes down drastically. You can understand the meaning of this what could have happened between the first and the second offence ," Goyal said while addressing the “Fair Digital Finance” on the occasion of the World Consumer Rights Day, organised by his ministry.
Recalling his own harassment 35 years ago when he started out as a young entrepreneur, Goyal listed out the number of cases registered under three different sections of the Legal Metrology Act and pointed out the vast difference between the number of cases under first and second offences.Citing data of the last three years, Goyal said broadly 51,000-54,000 cases were filed as first offence under Section 33, about 20,000-22,000 cases filed under Section 36 (1) and 8,000-10,000 cases filed under Section 25. "This is all first offence which is compoundable. I fail to understand after the first offence is filed how the number of second offence falls. The second offence can put you behind bar as it is criminal," he said.
The Legal Metrology Act 2009 enforces standards related to weights and measures. In its present form, the law prescribe imprisonment, in addition to fine, for second or subsequent offence. "I personally would like to flag off a couple of concerns...Because I do believe that it's important. I do believe it's important that what Rohit Kumar Singh (Consumer Affairs Secretary) said about decriminalisation should also be understood by all of us," he said.
The Minister also blamed the state government and the consumer organisations for opposing reforms.