During the monitoring carried out four months ago, the department found that Sayapatri had been selling substandard gold ornaments. Tests of samples carried out by the Nepal Bureau of Standards and Metrology (NBSM) showed that a gold top which Sayapatri claimed to be of 24 carat (99.5 percent gold) contained only 95.81 percent gold.
“We filed a case against Sayapatri at the Kathmandu District Court on Sunday based on the NBSM’s lab report,” said Dasharath Gautam, legal officer of the department. He added that even though other products were also tested for purity, the case was filed based on the test result of the gold top.
The department sued Sayapatri as per the provision of the Consumer Rights Protection Act that prohibits sale of substandard goods. In September last year, the market monitoring team had inspected Sayapatri and collected a gold chain, top and ring tagged as 24 carat gold for tests. The lab report showed the gold chain claimed to be 99.5 percent pure gold to be only 99.3 percent gold and the ring to be only 99.48 percent pure gold.
Earlier, the department had filed cases against eight gold dealers including Shree Ganapati Jewellers, Tejmin Jewellers and RB Diamonds located in the Capital. Department officials said that they were also preparing to file cases against the other dealers in the Chabahil area who had been found to have mixed silver in gold jewellery .
A joint monitoring team of the department and the NBSM inspected Sunrise Jewellers, Baba Jewellers, Maa Arati Jewellers, Good Luck Jewellers Shop Surya Mukhi Jewellers, Jaya Laxmi Gahana Griha in the Chabahil area.
The shops were found to have mixed silver in gold jewellery as per the lab test of the NBSM. The test reports showed that Good Luck among the six dealers had mixed the maximum amount of 3.63 percent silver in a gold Mangal Sutra claimed to be 24 carat gold.
The government has set the purity level for 24-carat gold at 99.5 percent. An official at the department said that it was obtaining clarifications from the dealers to file cases against them depending on the gravity of the offence.
Similarly, after cases of cheating by sellers of gold jewellery were revealed in markets outside the Kathmandu valley, the department has been preparing to send its officials to help the local administration file cases against the offenders.
Government market monitoring teams in Chitwan, Kaski and the eastern part of the country had found dealers cheating customers by selling low quality products. Pokhara City Gold Palace of Pokhara was found passing off Bangali rings having 94.41 percent gold as 24 carat gold. Likewise, Chitwan’s Maa Janaki Jewellers’ products contained 93.66 percent gold instead of the stated 99.5 percent.
However, dealers have condemned the results of the NBSM lab. They said that the government monitoring team lacked the expertise to judge the quality of gold jewellery and that the lab test reports were unscientific.
No comments:
Post a Comment