Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi, Aug 18: The Delhi High Court has ruled that restaurants may continue to charge service fees up till the next hearing on the Central Consumer Protection Authority’s appeal of the court’s judgement to ban the imposition of service charges at restaurants.
Based on the Central Consumer Protection Authority’s appeal, the Delhi High Court has also sent a notice to restaurant associations, including The Federation of Hotel and Restaurant Associations of India (FHRI) and the National Restaurant Association of India (NHRI) (CCPA).
The case will now be heard by the court in the following 10 days (by August 31).
The matter needed a thorough hearing, according to senior attorney Kapil Sibal, who was representing restaurant bodies.
“If the matter required a hearing, then why have this interim order,” asked additional Solicitor General Chetan Sharma, appearing for the Central Consumer Protection Authority.
Sibal said, “All over the world, eateries levy service charges. The law does not allow them to fix prices. This raises a very serious issue.”
The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA), which is a division of the Union Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Meal, and Public Distribution, recently filed a petition with the Delhi High Court to appeal the ruling that barred restaurants from adding service fees to customers’ food bills.
The CCPA lawsuit contested the Delhi High Court single-judge bench’s order to halt the government’s proposal to impose a service charge on consumers by restaurant and hotel owners.
After hearing the Hotel Restaurant Federation’s appeal, the Single Bench of the Delhi High Court temporarily halted the government’s collection of service fees.
