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Heard the learned counsel for the petitioner and the learned Government Advocate.

2. The brief facts of the case are as follows:

The petitioner is said to be a private limited company engaged in the manufacture and distribution of packaged natural mineral water under the brand name of 'Qua'. It is claimed that the bottles distributed by the petitioner have labels affixed on the bottle, containing all the pre-printed information required to be provided, which is common to every bottle upon which such label is affixed, including the address of the manufacturer, nutritional information, volume of the liquid contained, etc. However, it is stated, that since the production batch numbers, date of manufacture and the retail price, which vary from one batch of the bottles to the next, or from time to time, is said to be directly printed on the bottle while on the manufacturing line. This is known as 'online printing' and is said to be a common practice followed by most reputed manufacturers of bottled water. Hence it is contended that the petitioner had conformed and complied with Section 18 of the Legal Metrology Act, 2009 (Hereinafter referred to as the 'LM Act', for brevity) read with Rules 2(h) and 8 of the Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Rules, 2011 (Hereinafter referred to as the "LMPC Rules", for brevity).

"pre-printed information could be grouped together and given in one place and the online information grouped together in other place is allowed under Rule 2(h) of the Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Rules, 2011 ("LMPC Rules"), which also allows the online declaration of MRP on the crown/neck of bottles containing packaged drinking water."

Thus, the petitioner's stand was vindicated. Armed with the above said clarification, the petitioner is said to have approached the Controller for the release of the goods as they carried an expiry date and subject to decay and would be rendered useless. It appears that there was a belated reply intimating the petitioner that the matter of release of the goods would be placed before the court of the Magistrate, in the pending criminal case. It is only then that the petitioner had learnt of the criminal case having been registered and numbered as CC 829/2012, alleging an offence punishable under Section 36 of the LM Act.

Subject: Declaration of MRP on the crown / neck of bottles containing packaged drinking water Sir, Undersigned is to refer to the letter No.IBA/35/11-12 dated 20.6.2012 (copy enclosed) on the above mentioned subject and to state that the declaration of the pre-printed information could be grouped together and given in one place and on line information grouped together in other place is allowed under sub-rule (h) of rule 2 of the Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Rules, 2011, which also allows the online declaration of MRP on the crown / neck of bottles containing packaged drinking water.