Consumer affairs ministry calls meet to discuss service charge issue

In April 2017, the ministry had issued guidelines on charging of service charge by hotels/restaurants

The consumer affairs ministry has called a meeting on June 2 with the National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI) to discuss about growing complaints that consumers are being forced to pay service charge.

The meeting comes as a result of the ministry taking notice of a number of media reports as well as grievances registered by consumers on the National Consumer Helpline (NCH).

Consumer Affairs Secretary Rohit Kumar Singh has also written to NRAI President pointing out that restaurants and eateries are collecting service charge from consumers by default, even though collection of any such charge is voluntary.

The Secretary has also pointed