Restaurant service charge illegal. If you also go to eat at a hotel or restaurant and you are charged service charge there, be careful as it is illegal to charge service charge from any hotel or restaurant. Now the central government is also preparing to crack down on hotels or restaurants that charge their customers for providing services. The central government has developed a legal framework in this regard.

Meeting with representatives of the hotel industry

In fact, the decision was taken by central government officials after a meeting with representatives of the hotel and restaurant industry on Thursday. At the meeting, the National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI) and the Federation of Hotel and Restaurant Associations of India (FHRAI) had stated that the charging service is not illegal and that it occurs all over the world, but the central government has made it clear. That consumers will be forcibly charged, it is not right to charge service charges, if this continues then the central government will soon bring strict laws.

In this regard, Rohit Kumar Singh, Secretary, Department of Consumer Affairs, also said that it was not proper to charge service charge on bill from consumers in the restaurant. The department had received several complaints in this regard. The department had also written a letter to the hotel industry on May 24 in this regard.

Restaurant owners are talking privately.

There has been a long-running dispute between the government and restaurant owners over service charges. Hotel and restaurant organizations have told the government that charging a service charge is a private matter for restaurants, so no law should be enacted on it.

Pradeep Shetty, secretary of the Federation of Hotels and Restaurants Association of India, said it was up to the hotel or restaurant to decide whether or not to charge its customers. It is worth mentioning that whenever train and air tickets, food or movie tickets are booked through any portal, the service provider charges a facility fee, which is illegal.

NRAI has registered 500,000 hotels and restaurants.

It is noteworthy that NRAI is an organization of people involved in the hotel and restaurant business, with approximately 500,000 registered members. The NRAI says the public debate is creating unnecessary confusion and affecting the functioning of all restaurants. The NRAI says that the service charge information is clearly written in the menu card of the restaurant, so it is known before taking the customer service. The service charge is beneficial to the workers and if it is removed, the restaurant business workers will be harmed.