Winning Bizness Desk

Mumbai. Writing a letter to the Finance Minister of India, The Chamber of Trade and Industry (CTI) has demanded Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to issue clear guidelines on levying two charges for one service. CTI Chairman Brijesh Goyal and President Subhash Khandelwal said in a joint statement that after the introduction of Goods and Services Tax (GST), it is not right to charge extra from customers in the name of service charge. It was a different thing at the time of VAT, then there were many taxes. GST has brought on the concept of 'One Nation, One Tax'. Brijesh Goyal said that many restaurant owners leave the option of paying the service charge or not to the customer. CTI demands that it should not be included in the bill. The Finance Minister should issue a clear guideline on this.

NRAI-FHRAI face fine

The Delhi High Court had imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh each on the National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI) and the Federation of Hotel and Restaurant Associations of India (FHRAI) for non-compliance of rules related to service charges. In the order given on July 24, the court had said that the fine should be paid to the Consumer Affairs Department of the Government of India. Now the next hearing of this matter will be on 5 September. Last year, the government had issued guidelines regarding non-recovery of service charge. Since then, more than 4,000 complaints have been registered on the National Consumer Helpline for forcibly collecting service charges.

Let's complain

If the customer does not want to pay the service charge and the hotel owner is coercive, then the customer can file an online complaint with the consumer commission along with a copy of the bill. You can also call the helpline number 1915. After this action is taken against the hotel.