The Centre has announced five new categories of fuel dispensing systems under the ambit of Government Approved Test Centres (GATCs). These include dispensers for petrol and diesel, CNG, LPG, LNG, and hydrogen.
The inclusion of CNG, LNG and hydrogen dispensers comes at a time when India is rapidly expanding infrastructure for cleaner and alternative fuels.
The Department of Consumer Affairs under the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution has amended the Legal Metrology (Government Approved Test Centre) Rules, 2013, expanding the scope of verification services for fuel dispensing systems and strengthening India’s legal metrology infrastructure.
The move is expected to enhance the availability of verification services, improve efficiency and support the growing adoption of cleaner fuels across the country, the Ministry of Consumer Affairs said.
With the latest additions, GATCs are now authorised to verify and re-verify a total of 23 categories of weights and measuring instruments under the Legal Metrology framework.
The government has also notified verification charges for the newly included dispensing systems.
The verification fee for petrol and diesel dispensers has been fixed at Rs 5,000 per nozzle, while CNG, LPG, LNG and hydrogen dispensers will attract a verification fee of Rs 10,000 per nozzle.
The amended rules also empower state governments to notify additional categories of weights and measures that can be verified through GATCs based on local requirements.
Before the amendment, GATCs were authorised to verify 18 categories of instruments, including water meters, clinical thermometers, gas meters, energy meters, breath analysers, weighing instruments, flow meters, and vehicle speed meters.