Diner wins case against unfair ‘service charge’

The Hyderabad District Consumer Forum-II has come down heavily on Ohri’s 100 Degree restaurant at Shilpkala Vedika in Madhapur for adding service charge to the bill.

The case was filed by city resident Vijay Gopal who visited the restaurant in August 2016, when it levied a 10 per cent service charge, amounting to `213.

Service charge is not binding on the consumer and is a voluntary payment. Yet, the restaurant’s management insisted on the consumer paying the same. Ohri’s line of defence against the complaint was that service charge was a common practice the world over and it was levied for fivestar services they provided to the consumers.

“Their menu card said that all dishes were inclusive of tax, then how can they charge an additional service charge and force me to pay it?” asked Mr Gopal. The consumer even filed an RTI with the department of customs, Central Excise and service tax for a clarification on the same. They said that the Finance Act of 1955 had nothing like a service charge defined and was not being collected by the government.

The consumer forum observed that service charge was wrongly made compulsory by the restaurant’s management and it was up to the discretion of the consumer to pay for the service he received from the restaurant’s staff and for the ambience provided. The court ordered a compensation of up to `6,000 to the consumer and said that such practices amounted to unfair trade practices on the part of the restaurants.

Mr Gopal has also filed an FIR against Ohri’s management under Sections 418 and 420 of the IPC, for dishonesty and cheating. Prior to this he had won a legal battle against INOX theatre in Banjara Hills, for charging extra money for water bottles, in April this year.