CCPA Cracks Down on 41 Restaurants for Unauthorised Service Charges

New Delhi – The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) has taken a hard look at more than forty restaurants across the country for what it calls an unfair practice: tacking on a service charge by default, even when diners never agreed to it.

It all started when a handful of shoppers dialled the National Consumer Helpline (NCH) and sent in copies of bills that showed a mysterious “service charge” automatically added to the total. The helpline passed those complaints on to the CCPA, which then decided to act under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019.

Among the names that have surfaced are Chaayos, Barbeque Nation (sometimes reported as Fiesta Barbeque Nation), L’Opera French Bakery, China Gate Restaurant Pvt. Ltd., FOO Ahmedabad Restaurant, Café Blue Bottle in Patna, and Zorro – The Luxury Night Club. In total, 41 outlets are now under the scanner.

The authority’s view is simple: a service fee is a charge that a consumer must voluntarily accept. When a restaurant simply adds it to the bill without an opt‑in, it breaches the law and amounts to an “unfair trade practice”. The Ministry of Consumer Affairs has backed this stance, pointing to a Delhi High Court judgment dated 28 March 2025 that upheld the CCPA’s guidelines and declared mandatory service‑charge collection illegal.

What does this mean for diners? For now, customers should keep an eye on their receipts and question any extra line items they didn’t sign up for. For the eateries, the clock is ticking – they must either remove the automatic charge or risk penalties, and they may have to refund amounts already collected.

The CCPA says it will continue to monitor the situation and expects the restaurants to cooperate fully. If they don’t, the authority is ready to invoke stricter enforcement measures, including possible fines.

While the investigation is ongoing, the episode serves as a reminder that even seemingly small fees can trigger big regulatory responses when consumer rights are at stake.