A restaurant in Bambalapitiya has been fined Rs. 1 million for selling a 500ml bottle of drinking water at Rs. 100 — Rs. 20 above the gazetted maximum retail price.
The Colombo Chief Magistrate’s Court No. 5 imposed the fine after the defendant company, on Galle Road in Colombo 04, pleaded guilty to a charge filed by the Consumer Affairs Authority.
The rule it broke
Under Order No. 96, published in Extraordinary Gazette No. 2492/29, the maximum retail price for bottled drinking water in the 500ml to 999ml category is fixed at Rs. 80. The restaurant charged Rs. 100.
The CAA used the case to restate a point it says is widely misunderstood: where an MRP has been gazetted, restaurants, hotels and other commercial establishments may not sell above it, including for bottles served on their own premises. A venue cannot add a service premium to a price-controlled product.
The penalty is 50,000 times the overcharge
The fine is Rs. 1 million for a Rs. 20 breach on a single bottle. Neither account says how many bottles were involved, over what period, or whether the company had been warned or previously prosecuted — so the reporting does not explain how the figure was arrived at.
For comparison, a canteen vendor on the Colombo–Batticaloa ‘Meenagaya’ train was fined Rs. 100,000 in April for selling 1,000ml bottles at Rs. 160 against a Rs. 100 MRP — a larger overcharge, a tenth of the penalty. The difference is not accounted for in either case’s coverage.
What consumers are told to do
The CAA advised consumers to check the price printed on the bottle against the amount charged on their bill, and to keep receipts as evidence if they are overcharged. Violations can be reported on its 1977 hotline during office hours.
The authority warned traders that selling above a gazetted MRP can result in legal action.
The restaurant is not named in either report.
