Govt asks restaurants to stop imposing service charge
Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan said that the Centre has issued an advisory to restaurants asking them to stop imposing service charge as it is not a tax, only a tip. The government had earlier asked all hotels and restaurants to display notices that 'service charges are voluntary', allowing consumers dissatisfied with services to choose not to pay for it.
Restaurants can't ask their customers to pay service charges anymore, Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan said today.The Narendra Modi government's move comes months after it said in January that customers could choose not to pay service charges.The Department of Consumer Affairs had then asked state governments to advise hotels or restaurants to display information on their premises that 'service charges' are discretionary (voluntary), and that a consumer dissatisfied with their service could have them waived off.Later in the month, Ram Vilas Paswan called the levy of these charges an "unfair practice," and said the money should be given to "poor waiters."ALSO READ | Don't like paying service charge in restaurants? You have an option not to pay nowALSO READ | Service charge paid by consumers should be given to poor waiters: Ram Vilas Paswan