Kriti Agrawal
The Bombay High Court barred the Central Government from taking action against jewellers who have not complied with the January 15 decision mandating hallmarking of jewellery and prohibiting the sale and stamping of higher purity gold ornaments.
The rule will come into force on June 1, and jewellers will be exempted from coercive measures or penalties until June 29.
On May 21, a vacation bench of Justice S J Kathawalla and Justice S P Tavade heard a petition brought by the Pune Saraf Association, represented by senior lawyer Anil V Anturkar and counsel Shubham H Misar.
On the same day, the bench reserved its decision, which was issued on May 27.
The notification stated that from June 2021, jewellers will be able to sell only hallmarked jewellery and artefacts made of 14, 18, and 22-carat gold and infractions will result in a fine and a year in prison. At the moment, gold hallmarking is a voluntary purity certification.
Jewellers were given a year to register with the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) and adopt the required hallmarking of gold jewellery in order to ensure the purity of the precious metal. However, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the deadline was pushed out to June 2021.
The bench was informed that the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution had rejected the representation of the jeweller’s body from Pune and that petitioners seeking a stay on the judgment due to a total absence of infrastructure to implement it were seeking immediate relief.
The bench stated, “While we recognize that hallmarking is important for consumer protection and preventing unfair trade practices, suitable and required infrastructure must first be put in place before imposing such severe penalties on petitioners. Considering the objective for which the assailed order has been issued, we are not inclined to suspend its effect and operation.”