Don’t force service charge on customers’: Following brawl at Noida mall, consumer affairs department writes to restaurant bodies

“I urge you to suitably advise the members of your association not to insist on levying a service charge on the consumers on a mandatory basis, especially when a request to remove it from the bill is raised by a consumer. You would agree that any such charge is in the nature of tips or gratuity, which a consumer may decide to pay voluntarily depending upon her/his satisfaction with the quality and service provided by the establishment,” the letter stated.

A case pertaining to guidelines on service charges is being heard before the Delhi High Court. Last year, the court had stayed the Central Consumer Protection Authority’s guidelines barring hotels and restaurants from levying service charge “automatically or by default” in the bill. In April this year, the court said that the earlier order should not be shown on menu cards as it can “mislead consumers that service charge has been approved by the Court”.

Also Read

20-year-old woman jumps to death from Gurgaon mall

Training at posh hotels in Mumbai, transactions worth Rs 5 crore: How lat...

Delhi News Live Updates: Kejriwal targets Centre over ordinance, says 'BJ...

Aspiring model, wanted to make it big: Kin and friends recall DU student ...

Suri told The Indian Express that the body had taken note of the letter. A member of NRAI, who did not want to be named, said, “Service charge is distributed among the entire staff in most cases… don’t we pay convenience fees in railways, airports and taxis? It (service charge) is fundamentally the same thing.”