NEW DELHI: The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) – the country’s apex consumer protection body – has filed a suo motu case against 27 restaurants over mandatory charging of “service charges” despite issuing guidelines against them and upholding them by the Delhi High Court. In addition to directing these restaurants to provide prompt refunds to consumers, the CCPA is also investigating complaints of criminal action against the grocery stores. The authority believes such a measure will deter other restaurants from compulsorily charging service fees. In at least two cases, restaurants that violated the guidelines were fined up to 50,000 rupees. The CCPA has also ordered these restaurants to change their billing system because mandatory service fee charging has been deemed an unfair trade practice. Investigations conducted by the CCPA revealed that the restaurants, including Cafe Blue Bottle, Patna and China Gate Restaurant Pvt Ltd (Bora Bora), Mumbai, charged a standard service charge of 10%. Penalties were imposed in these cases. The CCPA said it is “closely monitoring complaints received by the National Consumer Helpline regarding service charge collection and will continue to take strong action against non-compliant restaurants to protect consumer rights and prevent unfair trade practices.”
