New Delhi, May 23 (FN Agency) The Department of Consumer Affairs (DoCA) on Monday warned restaurants against collecting service charges from consumers by default. In a letter written to President, National Restaurant Association of India, Rohit Kumar Singh, Secretary, Department of Consumer Affairs, has pointed out that the restaurants and eateries are collecting service charges from consumers by default, even though collection of any such charge is voluntary and at the discretion of consumers and not mandatory as per law. ”It has been pointed out in the letter that the consumers are forced to pay service charge, often fixed at arbitrarily high rates by restaurants. Consumers are also being falsely misled on the legality of such charges and harassed by restaurants on making a request to remove such charges from the bill amount. Since this issue impacts consumers at large on a daily basis and has significant ramification on the rights of consumers, the department construed it necessary to examine it with closer scrutiny and detail,” a statement from DoCA said.
The Department said it had taken notice of a number of media reports as well as grievances registered by consumers on the National Consumer Helpline (NCH). The DoCA pointed out that it had issued guidelines according to which entry of a customer in a restaurant cannot itself be construed as a consent to pay service charge. Any restriction on entry on the consumer by way of forcing her or him to pay service charge as a condition percent to placing an order amount to ’restrictive trade practice’ under the Consumer Protection Act, it said. As per the guidelines, a customer is entitled to exercise his/her rights as a consumer to be heard and redressed under provisions of the Act in case of unfair/restrictive trade practices. Consumers can approach a Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission / Forum of appropriate jurisdiction, it highlighted.