The Ministry of Consumer Affairs will soon come out with a legal framework to stop restaurants levying service charge from customers as the practice is "unfair". After a meeting with representatives of associations of restaurants as well as consumers, Consumer Affairs Secretary Rohit Kumar Singh said that although the associations claim the practice is legal, the Department of Consumer Affairs is of the view that it adversely affects the rights of the consumers and it is an "unfair trade practice".
"We will soon work on a legal framework because there were guidelines of 2017 which they have not enforced. The guidelines are not generally legally enforceable," he said. The meeting was attended by representatives of National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI), Federation of Hotel & Restaurant Associations of India (FHRAI) and consumer organisations, including Mumbai Grahak Panchayat and Pushpa Girimaji.
A legal framework will be legally binding on them to stop this practice. Usually, consumers get confused between service charge and service tax and end up paying, he noted. During the meeting, representatives of NRAI and FHRAI said that levying of service charges was not illegal.