New Delhi: The Supreme Court, on Monday, issued notice to the Centre, state governments and the Law Commission of India on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking mandatory disclosure of shop owner/seller details as part of a consumer’s ‘right to know’ about products they purchase.
The bench of Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Sandeep Mehta passed the order, after hearing advocate Eklavya Dwivedi on behalf of petitioner Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay, who is also a lawyer.
“There should be a declaration that every consumer has ‘right to know’ not only about the quality, quantity, potency, purity, standard, manufacturing date, expiry date and BIS/FSSAI certification of goods/products, but also details of the Distributor, Dealer, Trader, Seller and Shop Owner, so as to seek redressal against unfair restrictive trade practices and unscrupulous exploitation in spirit of provisions of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019,” the PIL states.
“There should be direction to the Centre and States to ensure that every Distributor, Dealer, Trader, Seller and Shop Owner displays details of Registration including Name, address, phone number and number of employees at the entry gate in bold letters on a display board visible to an ordinary person of ordinary prudence,” the PIL added.
Last year, during the Kanwar Yatra, the Supreme Court had passed an interim order, holding that shop owners/sellers can’t be forced to disclose their identities.
Recently, an application was filed in the Supreme Court against directives by the Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand governments to food sellers along the Kanwar Yatra route to display QR code stickers on their banners which would enable the pilgrims to access the details of the owners.
This application states that although eateries are legally obliged to obtain licenses and display them, they need to be displayed only inside the premises, and the government mandate to display the names and identities of the owners on the billboards outside is an overstep.
An apprehension was voiced in the application that the governments’ directions will cause mob violence, especially against vendors belonging to minority communities.
