A Ghaziabad-based restaurant has been slapped with a fine for imposing an ‘additional service charge’ on a Doon resident. Siddharth Rawat, accompanied by friends and family, visited the ‘Crops and Curries’ restaurant in Sept 2021. Upon receiving the bill, he was surprised to find a 10% service charge added on top of the Goods and Services Tax (GST).
Despite Rawat’s protest, the restaurant insisted on payment.
Rawat filed a compliant, asserting that the restaurant unjustly charged the service fee in addition to the 2.5% GST, resulting in a bill totalling Rs. 4,918/-
Following Rawat’s complaint, the district consumer commission ruled in his favour in July 2022. The commission ordered the restaurant to refund Rs. 435, the excess amount charged as a service fee, and compensate Rawat for mental distress and legal expenses. Despite the restaurant’s appeal to the state commission, they failed to overturn the decision.
The state commission, represented by the judicial member kumkum Rani and member B S Manral, affirmed the district commission’s ruling. The commission emphasized that in the era of GST, no service tax should be levied by restaurants. “In the bill, CGST and SGST were duly charged, hence there was no occasion for levying service charge,” the commission said. Upholding the district commission’s decision, the commission ordered the restaurant to refund the amount and pay Rs. 15000 as compensation plus 9% interest from the date of the case filing.
Source: The Times of India
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