Hotels and restaurants will no longer be able to charge customers any extra charges like ‘LPG charge’ or ‘Fuel cost recovery’. The central government has made it clear that apart from food prices, only government taxes can be added to the bill. Amidst the ongoing LPG crisis across the country, the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) has said in its order that hotels and restaurants will have to include all their input costs in the prices given in the menu. If a restaurant adds a separate charge at the end of the bill citing rising gas prices or any other operational expenses, it will be considered a violation of the rules. According to the authority, the customer will pay only the rate written in the menu and the taxes applicable on it. The cafe had charged 5% gas-crisis charge on lemonade. Recently, a cafe in Bengaluru had imposed 5% ‘gas crisis charge’ on the bill of lemonade to its customer. According to this viral receipt from Bengaluru’s ‘Theo Cafe’, a customer had ordered two mint lemonades. The price of one lemonade was ₹179, which means ₹358 for two. The cafe first gave a 5% discount of ₹17.90, but then added 5% i.e. ₹17.01 separately in the name of ‘Gas Crisis Charge’ along with the standard GST (CGST and SGST). In this way the total bill of the customer became ₹ 374. Attempt to circumvent the ban on service charge: CCPA’s investigation has revealed that many hotels and restaurants are charging such new names to bypass the ban on the old ‘service charge’. CCPA has called this a violation of consumer rights. The authority said that it is keeping a close watch on such things and action will be taken against those who break the rules. What to do immediately if you see such charges in the bill? CCPA has advised consumers that if they see LPG charge, fuel charge or any other extra fee added to the bill, the first thing to do is ask the hotel or restaurant management to remove it. If they refuse to remove it, customers can lodge their complaint. 4 easy ways to lodge a complaint
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LPG charge will not be added separately to the hotel-restaurant bill: Government said – If this is done then action will be taken, a case had come up for charging 5% gas-crisis charge.
