Wholesale package definition turns on intended use, and transport-only outer packing does not attract declaration requirements.

A secondary outer packing used only for transportation, safety or convenience does not qualify as a wholesale package under Rule 2(x) of the Standards of Weights and Measures (Packaged Commodities) Rules, 1977 unless it satisfies the statutory definition. The Supreme Court found that the seized packing was merely an outer cover for transport and protection, not packaging intended for sale as a wholesale package to an intermediary. As a result, the declaration requirement under Rule 29 did not apply, and the alleged violation was not established.

---

---

Issues: Whether the seized secondary outer packing of the commodities amounted to a "wholesale package" within Rule 2(x) of the Standards of Weights and Measures (Packaged Commodities) Rules, 1977, so as to attract the declaration requirement under Rule 29.

Analysis: A package attracts the regulatory requirements only if it answers the statutory description of a wholesale package. A packing used merely as a secondary cover for transportation, safety or convenience, and not intended for sale as such to an intermediary, does not become a wholesale package merely because it lacks the declarations applicable to wholesale packages. On inspection of the products produced before it, the Court found that the outer packing was only for transportation and safety of the goods and was not the wholesale package contemplated by the Rules.

Conclusion: The seized packages were not wholesale packages within Rule 2(x), and therefore the alleged violation was not made out.

Ratio Decidendi: A secondary outer packing intended only for transport or safety is not a wholesale package unless it satisfies the statutory definition under the Packaged Commodities Rules.

---