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2. The appellant felt aggrieved by the fact the Refrigerators were covered and included in the aforementioned notification dated 1.3.2000 as, according to the appellant, the Refrigerator is not such a commodity which is sold in a package. Significantly, the appellant is not aggrieved by its valuation of being under Section 4A(1)&(2) of the Act. The only complaint that the appellant made is that the appellant should not be required to print the MRP on the package of the Refrigerator manufactured by it. The appellant, therefore, filed a Writ Petition before the High Court of Punjab and Haryana praying, inter alia, for a writ of certiorarified mandamus restraining the authorities for taking any coercive measures against the appellant or its Directors, Officers, Servants or Agents for not declaring the MRP on the Refrigerators manufactured and cleared by the appellant from its factory. The notification dated 1.3.2000 was challenged to this limited extent only. Before the High Court the appellant pleaded that Refrigerator is not such a commodity which can be termed to be a packaged commodity and further the provisions of The Standards of Weights and Measures Act, 1976 (for short SWM Act) or the Rules made thereunder are not applicable to the Refrigerator at all. It was, therefore, prayed that the notification was liable to be quashed only to the extent that it included the Refrigerator and the requirement of declaring MRP on the Refrigerator. 3, The Respondent Authorities, however, maintained that the Refrigerator was in fact sold in a package of polythene cover, thermocol, hardboard cartons etc., and thus it falls in the category of pre-packed commodity. On that basis it was contended that since every packaged commodity was included in the SWM Act and the Rules made thereunder, there can be no escape from printing the MRP on the package. The High Court rejected the contention and dismissed the petition filed by the appellant. Hence the present appeal before us.

pre-packed commodity with its grammatical variations and cognate expressions, means a commodity or article or articles which, without the purchaser being present, is placed in a package or whatever nature, so that the quantity of the product contained therein has a pre-determined value and such value cannot be altered without the package or its lid or cap, as the case may be, being opened or undergoing a perceptible modification and the expression package, wherever it occurs, shall be construed as a package containing a pre-packed, commodity. Explanation I- Where, by reason merely of the opening of a package no alteration is caused to the value, quantity, nature or characteristic of the commodity contained therein, such commodity shall be deemed, for the purposes of these rules, to be a pre-packed commodity, for example, an electric bulb or fluorescent tube is a pre-packed commodity, even though the package containing it is required to be opened for testing the commodity.
Explanation II Not relevant. A glance at this provision and more particularly to Explanation I would suggest that the Refrigerator is covered under the term pre-packed commodity. Even if the package of the Refrigerator is required to be opened for testing, even then the Refrigerator would continue to be a pre- packed commodity. There are various types of packages defined under the Rules and ultimately Rule 3 specifically suggests that the provisions of Chapter II would apply to the packages intended for retail sale and the expression package would be construed accordingly. It is not disputed before us that the sale of the Refrigerator is covered under the retail sale. Once that position is clear Rule 6 would specifically include the Refrigerator and would carry along with it the requirements by that Rule of printing certain information including the sale price on the package. Thus it is clear that by being sold by the manufacturer in a packaged form, the Refrigerator would be covered by the provisions of SWM Act and SWM (PC) Rules and it would be imperative that the MRP has to be printed in terms of Rule 6 which has been referred to above. The High Court has also made a reference to Rule 2(l) and more particularly, the Explanation to which we have referred to earlier. In our view the reliance by the High Court on Rule 2(l) is correct. Learned counsel tried to urge that every customer would like to open the package before finalizing to purchase the Refrigerator. He would atleast get it tested and for that purpose the package would be destroyed. That may be so but it does not change the position as rightly observed by the High Court.