The Centre on Tuesday directed all establishments to comply with the law and sell packaged mineral water at the maximum retail price. In a series of tweets on Monday, Food and Consumer Affairs Minister Ram Vilas Paswan said the consumer forum has received complaints that the product was being sold at prices above the MRP. The price printed on the product labels differed at airports, hotels and malls, he said.

The government asked several companies, accused of the violation, to explain why the same product was being sold at different prices at different establishments, Paswan said on Twitter.

In October 2016, the minister had warned companies against charging rates above the MRP for packaged water and soft drinks, particularly at airports, multiplexes and hotels, PTI said. He had said a violation of the order would attract fines and imprisonment.

“The packaged drinking water is sold at 10-20% higher rates at these places, while in some cases, the MRP is not even written on the water bottle and soft drinks like Coca Cola are sold in loose at an increased rate,” Paswan had said.