TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2015 (2) TMI 74
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....Corporation Ltd. (BPCL) impleaded as respondents, on account of non compliance of mandatory provisions of the Legal Metrology Act, 2009 by the said respondents. Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas stated to be having superintending control over the respondent oil companies was also impleaded as a respondent; (ii) that the respondent oil companies were selling/supplying petroleum and diesel by measuring petroleum and diesel in litres when the Legal Metrology Act prohibits measure of "mass" in any other unit than in kilogram; (iii) that "mass" is not equivalent to volume; only 830 grams in weight/mass constitutes one litre; (iv) that thus the price paid for one litre is for 830 grams only and not 1000 grams which is one kilogram; (v) that the respondent oil companies are however continuing to sell petrol and diesel in volume instead of on mass, taking advantage of expansion and shrinkage in volume on account of rise and fall in temperature; (vi) that there will be no such variation if petrol/diesel is sold by weight; (vii) that the respondent oil companies and their officers by conti....
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....nd not under Article 226 of the Constitution of India. 3. The appellants in the memorandums of appeal, rather than addressing the reasoning given by the learned Single Judge for holding the writ petitions to be not maintainable, have parrot like repeated the averments in the writ petitions. The counsel for the appellants also, in spite of our repeated asking as to whether not a direction to the respondent oil companies as sought to supply petrol/diesel to the members of the appellants by weight i.e. in kilograms instead of by volume i.e. in litres, would amount to changing the agreement entered into between the members of the appellants and the respective oil companies and whether it is permissible and appropriate in exercise of powers under Article 226 of the Constitution of India to so change the agreement and as to what would be the consequences of the same on the other terms of the agreement, did not choose to reply. In fact, in spite of our prodding on the earlier date in this regard, no copy of the agreements so entered into have even been produced and along with the memorandums of appeal, only the extract of the arbitration clause in the agreement has been annexed. W....
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....ir case in these proceedings on the provisions of the Legal Metrology Act. However we are not satisfied that the contract of the members of the appellants with the respondent oil companies would remain unaffected from the reliefs claimed in these proceedings. In fact, at one point of time when the counsel for the appellants argued that the contract to sell and purchase petrol/diesel in litres is contrary to the Legal Metrology Act, we had enquired whether not the same would have the effect of making the contract void/voidable. We reiterate that we in these proceedings, cannot issue a direction to the respondent oil companies to, under their contract, supply diesel/petrol to the members of the appellants by weight without being satisfied that the same will not affect the other terms and conditions of the said contract and which the appellants have chosen not to place before us. 8. We may note that it is also the contention of the counsel for the respondent HPCL that this Court also does not have the territorial jurisdiction to entertain the writ petitions as the appellant in LPA No. 405/2014 is an association of the petroleum traders of the State of Uttar Pradesh and the app....
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.... as to why, 'litre' cannot be said to be a part of the decimal system of measurement inasmuch as it satisfies the requirement of being based on meter as a unit i.e. 1 litre is equal to 10-3 m3. Similarly, neither the Act nor the Legal Metrology (General) Rules define the International System of Units. We however, find that the Legal Metrology (National Standards) Rules, 2011 also framed under the Legal Metrology Act in Rule 3 thereof read with Rules 2 (d), (e) and (h) thereof refer to the International System of Units (SI) evolved by the Bureau International des Poids et Mesures (International Bureau of Weights & Measures) (BIPM) set up by the Metre Convention signed in Paris on 20th May, 1875 to ensure worldwide unification of measurements. The BIPM publishes a document known as the "SI Brochure" which defines and presents the International System of Units. Clause 2 of the 8th Edition, 2006 (updated in 2014) of the said Brochure reports that there are Seven units upon which the most accurate and reproducible measurements can be made and which are known as Base Units. The said seven Base Units are (i) metre as a unit of length; (ii) kilogram as a unit of mass; (iii) second as a uni....
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....nto three classes of units i.e. Base Units, Derived Units and Supplementary Units; and, (iii) Rule 2(i) defines "permitted units" as units which though not part of SI are recognized and permitted by the CGPM/International System of Units for use along with SI units. It thus follows that the Legal Metrology Act has expressly admitted to use of litre as a measure of volume. Rather the Fourth Schedule to the said Rules listing "Units permitted to be used to with base, supplementary or derived units" specifies that the permitted unit of volume shall be litre and that "1 L = 1 1 = 1 dm3 = 10cm3 = 10-3 m3". 12. The argument of the appellants, of petrol/diesel being measurable only in mass, the unit of which is kilogram is also incomprehensible. Mass again is not defined, neither in the Act nor in the Rules. Mass is defined in the Concise Oxford English Dictionary, Tenth Edition as "the quantity of matter which a body contains". However, Rule 13 of the Legal Metrology (General) Rules provide that every measuring instrument shall conform to the details specified in the Eighth Schedule thereof. Part IV of the Eighth Schedule titled "Measuring System for Liquids Oth....