2,172 notices issued to entities engaged in unauthorized sale of 'Khadi' products: Govt

New Delhi, Mar 21 (PTI) Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) issued 2,172 notices to entities engaged in unauthorized sale of products in the name of 'Khadi' till January this year, according to the government.

Nearly 500 entities have apologized for unknowingly using the Khadi trade mark, and have removed them from their products and websites, Minister of State for MSMEs Bhanu Pratap Singh Verma said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.

KVIC comes under the Ministry of MSMEs.

"Upto January 2022, KVIC had issued 2,172 notices to entities engaged in the unauthorized sale of products in the name of Khadi," he said.

KVIC has so far filed as many as nine suits against different entities for the infringement of trade mark and in most of the cases got interim injunction against the infringements, he added.

Suits were filed in the Delhi High Court against Khadi Essentials, Delhi; Iwearkhadi, Uttar Pradesh; Khadi Design Council of India, Uttar Pradesh; JBMR Enterprises-Khadi Prakritik Paint, Uttar Pradesh; Girdhar Khadi, Haryana; and Khadi by Heritage, Delhi.

The minister also informed that a suit was also filed in the Bombay High Court against Fabindia, Mumbai; India Khadi Fashion, Maharashtra; and Khadi Store, Pehnava, Maharashtra and Rajasthan.

Further, he said that KVIC has taken several steps to check manufacture and sale of fake Khadi products.

The steps include appointment of seven trade mark consultants, who are actively watching the trade mark infringements by third parties and issuing legal notices to the unauthorized users. Moreover, it also includes removal of online links regarding the sale of fake Khadi products from e-commerce platforms and social media on a continuous basis.

"So far, KVIC (has) already removed 2,487 links from Amazon, Flipkart, Snapdeal, WhatsApp, YouTube etc," Verma said adding that KVIC is constantly opposing the applications for registration of trade marks filed by third parties with the word 'KHADI' as part of their trade mark. PTI RR RR RUJ RUJ