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Delhi: The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) has warned hotels and restaurants not to charge extra like LPG charges and fuel costs from customers. The authority said that doing so is completely wrong and strict action will be taken in such cases. The authority has termed this as unfair trade practices under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019 and said that only applicable taxes can be added to the price mentioned in the ‘menu’. According to an official statement, the CCPA has “taken cognizance of the imposition of additional charges such as LPG charge, gas surcharge and fuel cost recovery in customer bills by hotels and restaurants.”

Hotels and restaurants are adding additional charges to the bill as per their wish.
CCPA found that such charges are being imposed in violation of existing guidelines to service charges. The authority has issued an advisory under Section 10 of the Consumer Protection Act 2019. It has been directed that no such charges will be imposed automatically and strict action will be taken in case of violation. “Based on complaints received on the National Consumer Helpline (NCH) and media reports, CCPA has observed that some hotels and restaurants are arbitrarily adding such additional charges to the bill, over and above the price of food items shown in the menu and applicable taxes,” the statement said.

The price shown in the menu is the final price
The CCPA clarified that the costs of raw materials such as fuel, LPG, electricity and other operating expenses are part of the cost of running a business and should be included while determining the price of ‘menu items’. The authority said recovery of such costs through separate mandatory charges amounts to unfair trade practices under Section 2(47) of the Act. The price shown in the menu should be the final price, excluding applicable taxes. “Consumers will not be misled nor forced to pay any such additional charges,” the authority said.