NEW DELHI: Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) has imposed a Rs 10,000 penalty on a restaurant in Connaught Place for adding “discretionary service charge” of Rs 80 to a consumer’s food bill. The country’s apex consumer rights protection watchdog has also directed the restaurant to discontinue the practice immediately.Taking suo-motu cognisance of the grievance of one Akshay Malhotra, CCPA investigated the matter. The complainant had alleged that the restaurant gave him a bill of Rs 924, which included the discretionary service charge in addition to GST. He had submitted the bill in question.CCPA found that the restaurant had levied service charge on the bill despite Delhi High Court’s upholding the guidelines against including any service charge in the bill.During the probe, the restaurant had submitted that the issue was resolved as it refunded the discretionary service charge to the customer, and there was no active dispute left to settle. The restaurant also stated that it has ceased operations since Nov 2025.However, while acknowledging the restaurant’s closure and the prompt refund as mitigating factors, CCPA held that the automatic billing mechanism violated statutory guidelines upheld by the high court and directed the restaurant to pay the penalty and ensure software compliance within 15 days.
