Action has been initiated by the Labour Department against nine helmet traders who sold the products without any indication of the maximum retail price (MRP), and at prices above the MRP rate following inspection carried out on helmet shops in different parts of Vellore district on Friday.
According to an official release, the action has been initiated under the Legal Metrology Act 2009 and Legal Metrology (packaged commodities) Act 2011 on the orders of P. Amuda, Commissioner of Labour, Chennai, the advice of R. Nanthagopal, Collector of Vellore district, R.G. Ravishankar, Joint Commissioner of Labour, Chennai, Divyanathan, Tamil Nadu Weights and Measures Control Officer, and K. Jayabalan, Deputy Commissioner of Labour, Vellore.
Inspection
The inspection was carried out on shops and organizations selling helmets in and around Vellore, Ambur, Katpadi, Arcot, Gudiyatham, Ranipet and Arakkonam.
The Collector said that the inspections would continue, and that stringent action would be taken against dealers who sold the helmets at higher prices.
Sub standard helmets seized in Tiruvannamalai
Sub standard helmets especially those sold without ISI mark and the helmets that didn’t have Maximum Retail Price (MRP) printed on them and those sold at exorbitant prices over and above the MRP were seized by the labour department officials in Tiruvannamalai.
On Thursday official reportedly seized 24 helmets from three shops for different kinds of violations. The raids continued on Friday and officials initiated action against 11 shops.
As wearing helmets practically became compulsory following a high court order from July 1, demand for helmets suddenly rose in market and shops started selling them in exorbitant prices
This seemingly prompted labour department to take up surprise raids in shops.
