Plea in Delhi HC seeks direction to e-commerce companies to adhere to met norms

A petition has been filed in Delhi High Court seeking direction to e-commerce websites to display Maximum Retail Price (MRP), seller details, name of the manufacturer and country of origin on the products offered for sale on their websites.

The petition was filed by Ajay Kumar Singh through advocate Rajesh K Pandit.

The petitioner has sought directions to Centre to ensure the compliance of Consumer Protection (Ecommerce) Rules, 2020 and Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodity) Rules, 2011.

Recognising the growing relevance of e-commerce in India and in order to protect the interest of the consumers, the Government of India in the year 2017 amended the Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodity) Rules, 2011 and promulgated Consumer Protection (Ecommerce) Rules 2020, the petitioner said.

The petition said the key objective of the change in law has been to recognise the role of e-commerce and make e-commerce companies accountable for displaying or disclosing all information that is relevant to the consumer prior to purchase.

Based on the newspaper reports, it is understood that the Government of India has been actively monitoring e-commerce platforms such as Amazon, Flipkart and Snapdeal and enforcing the compliance strictly, the petition added.

The petitioner said that upon visiting the digital platforms of various companies' mobile app/website, it is evident that the products are offered for sale without adequate disclosure of information to the customers as per law.

The plea said that the companies are flagrantly flouting the government norms and not following the mandatory guidelines under Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodity) Rules 2011 and Consumer Protection (Ecommerce) Rules 2020 and inducing the customers to buy products with inadequate information regarding the product, its price and the seller.