A restaurant in Haputale has been fined Rs. 1 million by the Bandarawela Magistrate’s Court for selling bottled drinking water above the maximum retail price, in one of the largest single-item consumer protection penalties this Avurudu travel season.
The fine was imposed on April 24 following a raid carried out by the Consumer Affairs Authority (CAA) Badulla District Office at a private company-owned restaurant on Welimada Road in Haputale. CAA officers found that the establishment had sold bottled water at a price above the approved limit, the authority said.
The court subsequently imposed the Rs. 1,000,000 fine on the restaurant operator.
Haputale is among the highest-traffic hill-country stops during the April Avurudu period, with day-trippers and weekend visitors from Colombo and Galle routinely complaining about inflated prices for water, snacks and roadside refreshments. The CAA stepped up Badulla and Nuwara Eliya district enforcement ahead of and through the holiday weekend, and the agency has extended its national special-raid programme through April 30 with more than 2,000 inspections logged so far.
The Bandarawela ruling sets a sharp benchmark for hill-country restaurant operators: a single overpriced retail item is now a Rs. 1 million liability, not a verbal warning.
