Hyderabad: On Tuesday, the legal metrology department ( LMD) silently cracked the whip on GST violators who continue to disregard regulations set forth by the department. The Department deployed officers into 12 teams to lead raids in Shamshabad, LB Nagar and Devaryamjal. The stores booked were namely, Amazon (Shamshabad), Decathalan (Shamshabad), Reliance Trends (Devarayamjal), Flipkart (Devarayamjal), Bajaj Electronics (Devarayamjal), and RAK Ceramics (LB Nagar). Between the raided stores, the department booked 114 cases and seized commodities worth Rs 2.5 cr.
The raids were conducted based on the stores’ locations as segregated by the Department to ensure that regions within the State were completed in a uniform fashion.
The officers upon arrival at the stores, conducted a customary check on all the commodities on the premises. Once commodities were found to be in violation, they were seized by the department and marked.
Controller for Legal Metrology Akun Sabharwal, IPS, said, “Depending on the size and quantity of the seized objects, the commodities are either transported to the metrology offices or are left in the premises of the stores. The commodities cannot be sold even if stored at the location, until the violators pay a compound fee to the court. In the case of perishable items, the items are mostly taken back by the violator upon receipt of the violating fee.”
Assistant Controller Mr. Jaganmohan said, “GST violations are not solely based on MRP violations but include numerous other regulations. Customers while purchasing commodities, must check irregularities in packaging, lack of customer care number, altered sale prices or no mention of sale price and finally manufacturing details. In addition, any new stickers with prices that alter sale revenue is also a violation. The lack of such detailing is a violation of the regulations set by the Department.” By notifying authorities about the sale of such commodities, the department can take action against the said sales.
The official said, “The main products seized were electronic items, Ray-Ban glasses, variety of cosmetics. Each of these products was different and all 38 were from different types of commodities. In addition to the raids in Amazon, Decathlon the French sports goods store was booked on 13 counts of violations.”
The toll free number, 1800-425-00333 can be used to lodge any complaints or grievances that customers may have while purchasing commodities in the marketplace.
