In a controversial stand against the new CCPA guidelines barring restaurants and hotels from levying service charge on consumers, owners opposed it citing it as ' illegal & baseless'.

Restaurant owners argued that the service charge was not levied discreetly as it is mentioned on the menu and the bill as well.

As quoted in The Wire, denouncing the guidelines, Manpreet Singh, treasurer of the National Restaurants Association of India (NRAI), said "the government could not tell bar and restaurant owners how to run their businesses".

“It is completely illegal and baseless. First of all, there is no law to support whatever they are saying. It is just an advisory and you cannot impose an advisory on us. It is like telling us how to run our business,” Singh told PTI.

Singh claimed that service charge is not levied discreetly and it is mentioned in advance for the customer on the menus.

Gurbaxish Singh Kohli, vice president, Federation of Hotel and Restaurant Associations of India (FHRAI), told PTI that it will study the order as it will have “far-reaching consequences” and approach the government thereafter, adding that the sector should not be “singled out”.

“If you want to make rules and regulations, you please make a law and make all the people also follow the law,” Kohli said.

“We just got the order. We will be studying it in the next few days. We will approach the government obviously because we will tell them just don’t single us out. Please ensure that other people also don’t do it. Don’t single us out,” he added.

Source: The Wire & PTI