Legal Metrological Department has expanded its ambit and caught quite a few big fish
From builders to fuel suppliers to meter manufacturers, anyone with a fishy past has not been spared by the Legal Metrology Department (LMD), which has flexed its muscles in these sectors too. Here are some examples of major crackdowns by the department:
Flat seized after builder compromises on floor space
In a first-of-its-kind move, the LMD had seized a flat in a Mulund building last month, after it discovered that the builder had cheated buyers in terms of floor space. Mulund resident and interior designer Nitin Dharap had approached LMD on December 17, stating that his flat's floor space was lesser than what was claimed in the agreement.
The department had communicated to builder Kamalnath Universal Private Limited and later seized a flat in the Purvanchal Cooperative Housing Society at Navghar Road in Mulund (E). The carpet area of the flat was 540 square feet carpet, and the flat was priced at around Rs 1 crore. The panchnama carried out by LMD on December 26 revealed that the flat was short of 3.7262 square metres.
The department has seized more such flats and initiated action against the errant builders.
Meter manufacturers, repairers face LMD's wrath
"Metres fitted in auto-rickshaws and taxis are meant to measure distance and calculate fare as per that. We are the agency that gives licenses to metre-manufacturing companies. It was found that none of the companies had got their metres verified from our department. Further probes revealed that not only the companies, but also the repairers of such metres do not have any proper authorisation to repair these metres and claim its authenticity," said an official from LMD.
The LMD has taken action against several such companies and repairers across the state. "We have also taken action on institutes which were testing these metres. Testing is the job of metrology department," said the official.
Fuel stations charged
"Any gas is sold on measurement. The equipment which measures the flow of gas has to be certified by LMD. It was found that the model of flow metre was not approved by our department. The department has recovered a compounding fee of Rs 5 crore from two major companies involved in LPG business. These companies are public undertakings based in Mumbai and Pune," said an LMD official. After the LMD crackdown, the companies got their models verified.
The LMD had fined around 128 petrol stations in the city, 47 in Thane and 68 in Pune, after receiving several complaints alleging that they were supplying Compressed Natural gas (CNG) without verification. The companies had reportedly told the controllers that they were not aware that CNG pumps also need to be verified by the LMD, as they earlier had only verified petrol pumps. "If a pump is not verified, those operating it might be cheating people on the quantity of fuel," said an LMD official.
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