'Frivolous': Karnataka HC quashes complaint against Samsung India

Bengaluru, June 15 (IANS) The Karnataka High Court on Thursday quashed a criminal complaint lodged against South Korean MNC Samsung company by the state Legal Metrology Department on packaging rules, terming it "frivolous".

A bench, headed by Justice Sachin Shankar Magdum, pronounced its order while hearing the petition by Samsung India Electronics Private Ltd seeking quashing of the case.

It opined that the contents of the complaint are totally trivial and unfortunate, and even it the allegations are accepted, it won't constitute an offence.

As per the rules under the Legal Metrology Act's Sections 52 and 10, the sections will only apply to the measurements and not to the maximum retail price (MRP). The charge of violation of Section 11 has been sidelined in this background, the bench stated.

The charges in the complaint apply to retail packages and not the wholesale bulk packages. When the complaint is verified, it appears clearly that the act of lodging the complaint itself is incorrect and tainted with malafide, the court said, adding that the petitioner has also not made specific allegations against the company.

The legal metrology laws are defined wrongly and a complaint has been lodged and hence it is quashed, the bench said.

The officials of the Legal Metrology department during their inspection at the ABM TeleMobiles India Ltd, the distributors of Samsung mobiles, found that Rs 14,000 is mentioned as the MRP of Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 was not in conformity with the rule 4 (2) of the Legal Metrology (Numeration) Rules.

Samsung company had given a detailed response to the show cause notice issued by the department. But, the department officials had issued a notice and asked the company management to appear personally for enquiry. They had also warned that if they fail to do so, they would lodge a complaint. A private complaint was later lodged with a magistrate's court.

The court had taken cognizance of the offence and issued summons to Samsung. The company had approached the High Court seeking quashing of the case, maintaining that it was lodged illegally.