[The Viewpoint] Is real estate bound by the Legal Metrology Act?

The Legal Metrology Act, 2009 was enacted by Parliament with the goal of establishing standards for organisations that deal with weights and measures. The Act also intends to regulate trade and commerce in connection with weights and measures specified in the Act.

The Act's objective does not explicitly state that it applies to both moveable and immovable properties. However, a cursory examination of its contents clearly indicates that the Act applies to all organisations whose operations are in any way related to standard weights and measures. The purpose of this article is to find out whether the Act applies to immovable properties, especially in the real estate sector.

Where things stand today

No need for registration

The Act makes no requirement for real estate developers to register themselves. There are no specific rules for this. According to Section 19 of the Act, only businesses that are engaged in importing weights or measures must register with the director of legal metrology. The Indian metrology system has specific rules that organisations must follow if they fall under the ambit of the Act. However, there are no specific regulations concerning immovable properties.

Compliance required for space area

As stated above, real estate developers don’t have to register under the Act. Also, there are no specific regulations for them. However, while estimating the space area of any property during sale or construction, the applicable Indian laws must be followed. In the current situation, "applicable Indian laws" refers to the Legal Metrology Act, which is the only law that specifies the measurement to be used while determining area. As per section-5 of the Act,“meters” is the prescribed S.I. unit to measure the length and calculate space area.

The Kerala High Court in the judgement Sobha Developers Ltd vs The Inspector of Legal Metrology on 9 September 2019, throws light on the powers of a metrology officer. The Metrology officer (“respondent”), in the aforementioned case, issued a notice to Sobha Developers Limited (“petitioner”) for the compounding of offences under section 48 of the Act. The basis for issuing the notice was that the measuring unit used in the advertisement issued by the petitioner was "square feet" rather than "square meter." The petitioner promptly responded to the respondent’s notice. The respondent had also issued a notice to the petitioner, stating that he would launch criminal action against them. Therefore, the petitioner filed a writ petition before the Kerala high court to quash the notice issued by the respondent. The counsel for the petitioner also questioned the Act's applicability in the present matter, to which the government's advocate for the metrology officer responded with the following argument:

“The learned Government Advocate filed a detail objection and contended that in India, uniform standard of weights and measures, based on metric system were established for the first time, by the Standards of Weight and Measures Act 1956. However, based on International System of Units, as recognized by the General Conference of Weights and Measures (CGPM) and International Organisation of Legal Metrology (OIML). India is one of the member countries of general conference of weights and measures (CGPM) adopted S.I Units to establish accuracy in weights and measures. It is further contended that the petitioner is in the business of selling apartments by measurements, ATT, RAC, TS. The provisions of the legal metrology Act are also applicable to the petitioner. Therefore, notice issued directing the petitioner to compound the offence. Hence, sought to dismiss the writ petition.”

While disposing the Writ Petition the Kerala High Court considered the arguments of both the sides and gave an opportunity to the petitioner to file objections before the respondent within a prescribed date.

The fact that the respondent issued a notice to the petitioner for publishing an advertisement in a different measuring unit than the one prescribed by the Act shows the power of a metrology officer. The court too did not observe anything qua the metrology officer’s authority to issue a notice to the respondent. This case therefore indicates that the metrology department may issue notice or take appropriate actions if an organisation uses different S.I. units other than the ones mentioned under the Act

India is a member of the Organization of Legal Metrology (OIML), a Paris-based intergovernmental body that was established with the goal of defining measurement standards that would apply to all members, as well as creating uniformity among members in terms of the S.I. units of measurement to be used while measuring anything that falls under the scope of the legal metrology. These measurement standards are intended to be incorporated into the laws of Member States as model regulations, and they primarily outline the metrological parameters needed of particular measuring instruments, as well as the techniques and equipment for monitoring their conformity. The said recommendations are optional; OIML does not have a legal binding.Article VIII of the OIML Convention, on the other hand, stipulates that its members have a moral obligation to follow the OIML's recommendations. [Marc Loesewitz, The case of the International Organization of Legal Metrology, OECD, Page No.10] In this sense, "moral obligation" indicates that every Member Nation may accept the Recommendations to the greatest extent possible, although they cannot be sanctioned by the OIML if they do not. The final outcome of the regulatory effort is thus dependent on the Member States' willingness and/or ability. Wherever OIML Recommendations are incorporated in local legal regimes by its members, they become legally binding

- Registration under the Legal Metrology Act is not mandatory for real estate developers.

- There are no specific rules in the Act to regulate the real estate sector.

- The measurements, which the real estate developers must use should be “square meters”. Any other measurement unit shall be in contravention of the Act.

- The legal metrology officer can investigate cases in which real estate developers use different SI units for sales promotion.

- India is a member of the OIML, hence, S.I. units mentioned by OIML

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