The Galle Additional Magistrate’s Court has fined two traders Rs. 100,000 each — Rs. 200,000 in total — after they pleaded guilty to selling rice above the gazetted Maximum Retail Price (MRP), the Consumer Affairs Authority (CAA) said.
The traders were apprehended during raids in the Galle area as part of the CAA’s continuing island-wide campaign to curb illegal pricing practices that inconvenience consumers, Newswire reported. The CAA said the campaign remains active across all 25 districts.
The Galle convictions are the first publicly disclosed court fines in the latest enforcement wave, which has seen the CAA’s special raids extended to April 30 after more than 2,000 inspections in the Avurudu period. The Authority recorded rice and water overpricing across six districts in mid-April and conducted earlier district-level operations including Kegalle and Dambulla.
Rice prices have remained a persistent consumer-affairs concern through 2026, with the gazetted MRP framework intended to insulate households from supply-chain spikes. Traders found selling above MRP face fines and potential prosecution; the CAA has urged consumers to report violations to its 1977 hotline.
Investigations into the Galle case are ongoing under the wider campaign, the Authority said.
