The Centre will soon issue an advisory to States asking them to crack down against imposition of service charge on food and drink bills, said Ram Vilas Paswan, Minister for Food and Consumer Affairs, on Friday.

“Service charge does not exist. It is being wrongly charged. We have prepared an advisory on this issue. We have sent it to the Prime Minister’s Office for approval,” Paswan told reporters here.

The Minister was of the view that consumers should be informed about service charge in the menu card itself.

An official told a news agency that levying of service charge without seeking customer consent would be considered an unfair trade practice under the Consumer Protection Act.

In January, the Consumer Department had said that service charge was not compulsory and a customer could use her discretion to not pay it if dissatisfied with experience. At that time, the Minister had said that there was no provision under the existing law to take action against hotels/restaurants.

The National Restaurant Association of India, too, had stated that inclusion of service charge in the restaurant bill was a common and accepted practice and could impact staff wages.

Food portions On fixing food portions, Paswan said the government would not bring a law or issue any advisory, but would encourage voluntary steps by hotels and restaurants. The government has also asked the Association of Hotels to train their staff to stop wastage of food.

“The association has agreed to spread awareness among consumers and train their waiters. Many have even started serving half-plate,” said another official.

Aquafina at uniform MRP Paswan said Pepsi’s bottled mineral water, Aquafina, would be sold at the same maximum retail price (MRP) across the country. He said action could be taken under the law for having dual MRP on any product and consumer courts are already taking action.

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