Jewellers sued ‘for selling silver as gold’

Respondent says petitioner knew he was buying gold and silver alloy.

LAHORE:

A consumer court has fixed November 10 for initial arguments on a suit seeking damages of Rs32,300 from a pair of jewellers who allegedly defrauded a customer seeking to buy a pair of gold earrings.

Petitioner Nadeem Iqbal told the court that he had bought the earrings from Qaisar Jewellers for Rs2,300 back in 2004. He said that he had been told that the earrings, weighing 3g and 600mg, were pure gold. He said that he had recently tried to sell the earrings and discovered that they were actually made of silver. He said he then approached the respondents Muhammad Naeem and Nazim Ali Malik, who now own separate jewellery stores, but they refused to take them back. Each was saying that the other was to blame and should pay for the earrings, he said.Iqbal asked the court to direct the respondents to pay him Rs32,300, including Rs10,000 as lawyer’s fees and Rs20,000 as damages.

Muhammad Naeem, now the proprietor of Naeem Jewellers, told The Express Tribune that the earrings were made of ‘Ganga Jamni’, a gold and silver alloy, and the petitioner had been told this at the time of the purchase. He said that he would be willing to buy back the earrings for Rs3,000, but the petitioner was demanding Rs7,000.

Malik, the other respondent, was unavailable for comment.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 4^th, 2012.