Wholesale packages need not display MRP under the Packaged Commodities Rules; prosecution for omission was quashed.

A wholesale package under Rule 29 of the Packaged Commodities Rules is outside the retail disclosure regime, so the maximum retail price need not be printed on such a package. Applying Jayanti Food Processing, the Delhi HC held that Rule 6 requirements for retail packages do not govern wholesale packages, and the inspection report itself showed the goods were a wholesale package. As no legal obligation to display MRP arose on those facts, the prosecution was misconceived and the complaint with all consequent proceedings was quashed.

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Issues: Whether a package consisting of multiple retail packs was a wholesale package exempt from the requirement of displaying maximum retail price, and whether the complaint and consequent proceedings deserved quashing.

Analysis: The package described in the inspection report was a wholesale package within the meaning of the Packaged Commodities Rules. The scheme of the Rules treats retail packages and wholesale packages separately, and the disclosure requirements under Rule 6 applicable to retail packages do not govern wholesale packages. Rule 29 prescribes the particulars required on wholesale packages and does not require the maximum retail price to be printed. The Supreme Court decision in Jayanti Food Processing was applied to hold that packages covered by Rule 29 are outside the purview of retail sale price requirements. Since the inspection report itself showed a wholesale package and there was no legal requirement to print MRP on such package, the prosecution was misconceived.

Conclusion: The complaint and all proceedings arising from it against the petitioner were quashed.

Ratio Decidendi: A wholesale package governed by Rule 29 of the Packaged Commodities Rules is not required to display maximum retail price, and prosecution for omission of MRP on such a package is unsustainable.

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