Summary:
High Court's respite to jewellers against compulsory hallmarkingIn a major respite to thousands of jewellers who are apprehending penal action once hallmarking becomes compulsory from June 1 Nagpur bench of Bombay High Court on Friday directed the authorities not to take any coercive action against the jewellers under Section 29(2) of the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) Act for alleged breach of these regulations. A representative petition filed by All India Gems and Jewellery Domestic Council representing more than 3000 jewellers and gold shops claimed that the new regulations had made it mandatory to hallmark gold jewellery before it was stored or sold with effect from June 1 2021. If implemented it will stall sale of six crore pieces of gold which are yet to be hallmarked and will make gold shop owners and jewellers liable for criminal prosecution the petitioners claimed while seeking stay to implementation of Hallmarking Regulation. In proportion to such multitude of jewellers in India the percentage of hallmarking centers available in India is about 34 per cent only and there are at least 488 districts which do not have any hallmarking centers the petition stated. This will also create problems for household gold or those deposited as surety without any hallmarking and also for old gold jewellery stock lying with goldsmiths the petitioners claimed while citing several other difficulties..