Service charge in hotels not mandatory, guidelines approved: Paswan

IANS 22 April 2017

Maintaining that service charge in hotels and restaurants was "totally voluntary", Union Food and Consumer Affairs Minister Ram Vilas Paswan on Friday said the government had approved guidelines in this regard.

He added that the guidelines were sent to the states for necessary action.

"Government has approved guidelines on service charge. (It) is totally voluntary and not mandatory now. Guidelines are being sent to states for necessary action," he tweeted.

According to the Guidelines on Fair Trade practices framed under the Consumer Protection Act, placing of an order by a customer amounts to his or her agreement to pay the prices displayed on the menu card along with applicable tax.

"Charging for anything other than the aforementioned without consent of the customer, would amount to unfair trade practice," reads the guidelines.

It further said that the bills should clearly display that service charge is voluntary and that the service charge column of the bill should be left bank for the customer to fill up before making payment.

The customer can decide whether or not to pay service charge or tip only after assessing the quality of service, and if so, how much, the guidelines state.

Paswan said last week that his ministry had sent an advisory on the service charge issue to the Prime Minister's Office (PMO).

If hotels levy the charge mandatorily, customers can approach consumer courts.

Disclaimer: Information, facts or opinions expressed in this news article are presented as sourced from IANS and do not reflect views of Moneylife and hence Moneylife is not responsible or liable for the same. As a source and news provider, IANS is responsible for accuracy, completeness, suitability and validity of any information in this article.

Comments

User

Rajendra Modi

9 years ago

Till date hotels are charging and customers are paying, not aware of government stand

Rajendra Modi

9 years ago

Absolute power corrupts absolutely, days are not far each and every movement action transaction will be covered and monitored reminds me of KGB

Sajjan Raj Jain

9 years ago

Govt should have given 3 years time to make Aadhar compulsory for filing Income Tax returns.Without warning and sufficient time this is a nuisance.What about companies they have survived on PAN nos alone so other taxpayers can also very well use PAN.How many indians are taxpayers ?Aadhar is for everybody and PAN is for tax payers alone.The idea to link PAN with Aadhar is very inconvenient and unnecessary.

Hayath MS

9 years ago

What a joke, so govt thinks customers will be given chance to practice their voluntary right by hotels which one visits to stay in non familiar place, its like voting on a evm and calling it democracy. Lol