What to Do When a Shop Gives You Short Weight in Punjab

An inspector in Punjab can weigh an article a shop has already sold you, and can break open a sealed packet to check whether it holds what the label claims. The maximum fine for giving you short measure is Rs 1,500, a figure set in 1975.

Both halves of that matter. The powers are real and wide. The penalty behind them has not moved in fifty years.

We read the Punjab Weights and Measures (International System) Enforcement Act 1975 on 12 September 2026, in the text published by the Law and Parliamentary Affairs Department.

What an inspector may do

The verification power is the one worth reading twice. It is not limited to checking the scale. It extends to the article that left the counter.

Sealed packets can be opened

A packet with a printed weight on it feels settled. The Act treats it as a claim that can be tested.

Where an inspector has reason to believe a sealed package or container intended for sale does not contain the net weight or measure it purports to contain, he may, after recording his reasons, break it open and verify the contents.

If the contents match, he reseals the package where that can be done without injuring them, and attaches a certificate stating the correct weight or measure.

If they do not match, he may seize or detain the package and its contents.

So a printed net weight is a representation, and the machinery to test it exists. The recorded reasons requirement is the check on the power being used arbitrarily.

The stamp is what makes a scale legal

The Act runs on stamping, and that is the thing to look for at a counter.

No commercial weight, measure, weighing instrument or measuring instrument may be sold, delivered, used or possessed for use in trade unless it has been verified and stamped in the prescribed manner.

A duly stamped instrument is legal in every area where the Act is in force, and is not liable to be re-stamped merely because it is used somewhere other than where it was stamped. It is also presumed to be correct until the contrary is proved.

Two presumptions work against a trader who argues the scale was not his to worry about. A weight found in the possession of a trader, employee or agent is presumed, until the contrary is proved, to be held for use in trade. And a weight used by an employee or agent is deemed used by the trader, unless he proves it was used without his knowledge or consent.

What it costs, and when the figures were set

Here the Act shows its age, and we are quoting it as published rather than as it might feel today.

Demanding or receiving a quantity of goods more or less than the quantity fixed by the contract, determined in terms of a standard weight or measure, is punishable with a fine which may extend to one thousand five hundred rupees.

Using a unit that is not a standard weight or measure carries rigorous imprisonment up to six months, or a fine up to two thousand five hundred rupees, or both.

Selling, delivering, using or possessing an unstamped commercial weight or instrument for trade carries rigorous imprisonment up to six months, or a fine up to five thousand rupees, or both.

The Act dates from 1975 and those figures are the ones it carries. The imprisonment provisions are the part with weight behind them now, not the fines.

Tolerance, and why a tiny difference is not a case

Not every discrepancy is an offence, and the Act says so rather than leaving it to argument.

Government may prescribe the amount of error to be tolerated in selling articles by weight or measure, generally or for a particular trade or class of trades.

So a permitted margin exists, it is set by rules rather than by the shop, and it can differ between trades. A small variance is not proof of anything on its own.

What is worth acting on is a consistent shortfall, a scale with no stamp, or a sealed packet well below its printed weight.

If the inspector and the trader disagree

1. A difference about verifying, adjusting or stamping can be appealed within the prescribed period.
2. A decision of an inspector or assistant controller goes to the deputy controller.
3. A decision of a deputy controller goes to the controller.
4. A decision of a controller goes to Government.
5. Either the interested party or the inspector may bring the appeal.

That ladder exists for the method of verification itself, which is a narrower thing than a complaint about a shop. For the everyday complaint, the practical route starts with the district administration, which the inspectorate sits under.

Where else to take it

Short measure is often not the only thing wrong, and the other routes carry heavier consequences than a 1975 fine.

Our guide to what a shop must do before it takes your money covers the duty to display prices, issue a receipt showing quantity and price, and disclose the refund policy, with penalties up to two years or one hundred thousand rupees.

Our guide to taking a shop to consumer court covers the civil route for getting money back. Our guide to reporting unsafe food covers the food safety regime, where the penalties are far larger. And our guide to complaining about a petrol pump covers short measure at a pump, which has its own regulator.

Pick the route by what actually went wrong. A missing receipt and a short packet are two different complaints, and the second one is usually easier to prove.

Common questions

Can someone check the weight of something I already bought?

Yes. An inspector may verify the weight or measure of an article sold or delivered in a trade transaction.

Can a sealed packet be opened to check it?

Yes, where the inspector has reason to believe it is short and records those reasons first.

What happens if the packet is correct?

It is resealed where possible and a certificate stating the correct weight is attached.

What is the fine for short measure?

Up to one thousand five hundred rupees, a figure carried in the 1975 Act.

Is an unstamped scale legal?

No. A commercial weighing instrument must be verified and stamped before it is used in trade.

Is every small difference an offence?

No. Government may prescribe an amount of error to be tolerated, which can differ by trade.

Last checked and sources

Last checked 12 September 2026. We downloaded the Punjab Weights and Measures (International System) Enforcement Act 1975 (LII of 1975) from the Punjab Code portal at punjablaws.punjab.gov.pk, in the text published by the Law and Parliamentary Affairs Department, Government of the Punjab, and read it. Section 8 empowering an inspector at all reasonable times to inspect and verify any weight, measure, weighing instrument or measuring instrument used in trade or commerce or held for such use, to enter into or upon any place or premises for that purpose, to require a trader or an employee or agent to produce instruments, documents or records, to verify the weight or measure of any article sold or delivered in the course of a transaction, and to seize or detain against a receipt anything not found to be what it purports to be; section 9 empowering an inspector who has reason to believe a sealed package or container intended for sale does not contain the net weight or measure it purports to contain to break it open after recording his reasons, to reseal it with a certificate of the correct weight where the contents match and this can be done without injuring them, and to seize or detain the package and contents where they do not; section 14 punishing use of a unit other than a standard weight or measure with rigorous imprisonment which may extend to six months or a fine which may extend to two thousand five hundred rupees or both; section 15 punishing demanding or receiving a quantity in excess of or less than that fixed by contract and determined in terms of a standard weight or measure with a fine which may extend to one thousand five hundred rupees; section 16 requiring verification and stamping before a commercial weight, measure or instrument is sold, delivered, used or possessed for use in trade, setting rigorous imprisonment up to six months or a fine up to five thousand rupees or both, and establishing the presumptions that an instrument found in a trader's possession is held for trade use and that use by an employee or agent is use by the trader unless he proves absence of knowledge or consent; section 22 providing that a duly stamped instrument is legal in all areas where the Act is in force and is not liable to re-stamping merely because it is used elsewhere; section 23 providing that a duly stamped instrument produced by an inspector is presumed correct until the contrary is proved; section 24 empowering Government to prescribe the amount of error to be tolerated generally or for a trade or class of trades; and section 25 providing the appeal ladder from an inspector or assistant controller to the deputy controller, from a deputy controller to the controller and from a controller to Government, are all taken from that text. The prescribed tolerance, the prescribed manner of stamping and the prescribed appeal period sit in rules rather than in the Act, and this article states none of them. The Act dates from 1975 and the monetary penalties quoted are those it carries. Weights and measures enforcement is a provincial subject and this is the Punjab Act. Nothing here is legal advice.