Acting on a complaint by the Delhi-based Gas Appliance Manufacturers Association (GAMA), the Commission chairman A N Divecha, in an interim order, directed the company to ``restrain'' from making any such claim in ``any advertisement in the print or the visual media.''

The BPL advertisement had claimed that the Indian Institute of Petroleum (IIP), Dehradun, which functions under the Centre for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), had certified its product after tests. However, IIP had denied issuing any such certificate to BPL.

``We wish to clarify that no certificate was issuedto BPL on any of its LPG stoves...Cooking up to 40 per cent faster than ordinary gas stoves is their own inference drawn from results of various tests performed on their appliance, ignoring the disadvantage mentioned by us,'' the Institute said in a letter to Sunflame Appliances, a gas stove maker which had sought a clarification.

IIP had informed the company that a test conducted by it showed the company's LPG stove would consume more gas for cooking marginally faster. The Institute had also advised BPL to stop ``exploiting'' its name for commercial gain. After perusing the clarification and other records, the Commission observed that BPL, thus, has made a false claim concealing disadvantages of its product and misled consumers. This, the Commission said, amounted to unfair trade practice within the purview of section 36A of the MRTP Act.

Meanwhile BPL, in reply to queries made by the complainant, had said the company had a technical tie-up with Sanyo, Japan, which was one of the largest manufacturers ofgas tables in the world and was ``known for its reliability and performance worldwide.'' ``We take pride in the fact that ours is the only manufacturing plant outside Japan, anywhere in the world, which rolls out the Wincook models of gas tables that consistently meet Sanyo's quality requirements,'' senior sales manager, Ravi Gupta said in a written reply to the complainant.

On the specific queries about the claims of faster cooking,BPL said the rating of its burners was higher than other Indian gas stoves' and they generated more heat in a given period. Rejecting BPL's arguments, the MRTPC restrained BPL from making any such claim and posted the case for further hearing on July 2.