Government Fines Salt Trading Corporation Rs 300,000 Over Sugar Stock Data

The Department of Commerce, Supplies and Consumer Protection has slapped a fine of Rs 300,000 on state-owned Salt Trading Corporation for failing to provide verified records of its sugar supplies and obstructing a monitoring inspection, regulators said.

According to an order signed by department inspection officer Durga Dutta Bhatta, the market regulator penalized the public enterprise under Section 38(e) and Section 39(1)(b) of the Consumer Protection Act, 2018, which penalize unfair trading conduct. Nepal Press reported that this represents the first instance in which the ministry-level monitoring apparatus has taken punitive action against an entity under its own supervision, framing the move as part of the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies's zero-tolerance initiative.

Department spokesperson Anil Kiranti told Onlinekhabar that during an inspection, the state distributor claimed its daily purchases, sales, and sugar inventories were routinely tracked in a ledger. However, officials could not inspect or verify the figures because the corporation failed to produce the stock books, making it impossible to reconcile the physical quantity of processed and unprocessed sugar with written records.

Nagarik News reported that the penalty notice was formally addressed in the name of Prajjwal Man Pradhan of Kathmandu Metropolitan City-13. Salt Trading Corporation has acknowledged and received the regulatory letter with its official seal, Onlinekhabar reported. The enterprise has been given seven days to deposit the penalty into designated revenue account number 14312 at Himalayan Bank and provide a receipt to the department, failing which it faces escalated action under the act.

Under statutory rules, the corporation may challenge the department's finding by lodging an appeal with the director general within seven days, provided it deposits a 50 percent bond of Rs 150,000 in the department's account at Nepal Rastra Bank, Thapathali, Onlinekhabar and Nepal Press noted.

The regulatory crackdown comes against the backdrop of mounting consumer frustration over market supply shortages and rising retail prices of staple food items. My Republica reported that sugar prices recently climbed to as much as Rs 170 per kilogram in the local market amid complaints of artificial scarcity, prompting authorities to scrutinize public agencies responsible for stabilizing food supplies.