Centre Issues Notice To Amazon For Selling Sweets As 'Prasad' From Ayodhya Ram Temple (representational image @Unsplash)

The Centre issued notice to e-commerce giant Amazon, accusing of engaging in “deceptive trade practice” to the sale of sweets under the tag as ‘Shri Ram Mandir Ayodhya Prasad’.  The action was following the complaint lodged by the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), which alleged that Amazon is misleading consumers by selling sweets under the guise of “prasad” from the Ram Temple, which is to be inaugurated yet.

The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) said that such practices will mislead the consumer about the true characteristics of the product, influencing their purchase decisions based on the inaccurate representations. A statement by CCPA read that, “Enabling the sale of food products online that make false representations misleads consumers regarding the genuine characteristics of the product. Such practice falsely influences consumers to make purchase decisions they might not have otherwise taken, had the accurate attributes of the product been mentioned,”.

The products in question that were listed in Amazon include, Sri Ram Mandir Ayodhya Prasad – Raghupati Ghee Ladoo, Ayodhya Ram Mandir Ayodhya Prasad, Khoya Khobi Ladoo, Ram Mandir Prasad – Desi Cow Milk Peda, and others.

The e-commerce giant was given seven days to respond to the notice from CCPA. Failure to respond will lead to necessary actions to be initiated against the company under the provisions of Consumer Protection Act, 2019.

it is to note that under Rule 4(3) of the Consumer Protection (e-commerce) Rules, 2020, no e-commerce entity shall resort to any unfair trade practice, whether in the course of business on its platform or otherwise.