Mumbai lawyer drags restaurant to cops over service charges

How many times have you checked your restaurant bill for the amount charged as ‘service charge’ before paying the bill? While most of us don’t know or understand on what basis restaurants charge us for ‘service’, we usually don’t bother about it and pay it without making a fuss, even though we know it may not be justified. Because who wants to waste time haggling? But not Mumbai lawyer Abhishek Nakashe. After having lunch with his sister Amruta in a Mulund eatery, an upset Nakashe dragged the restaurant to the police for unnecessarily adding service charges to the bill. [caption id=“attachment_2361074” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. AFP[/caption] A Mid-Day report quotes Nakashe as saying, “Service charge is a deceptive nomenclature, and rarely do restaurants clarify the per cent levied in their menus, although it is mandated that they do. While I usually pay up when eating out, I decided to take up the issue this time because there was ambiguity in the menu and the management wasn’t forthcoming with an explanation.” Nakashe spent half an hour arguing with the restaurant management after which he went to the police. And even the police was confused about under what sections to lodge a complaint because it is very rarely that anyone speaks up about these things. “Duty officer Ankush Waghmode, who took Nakashe’s complaint, said it took him some time to investigate if specific taxation laws, if any, could be applied. Lawyers contacted by Mid-day said that the NC can be converted into an FIR in a Magistrate Court, following which the police are free to investigate the matter. Nakashe could also choose to take up the matter with the Sales Tax Department or Consumer Court,” reports Mid-Day. Here’s the difference between service charge and service tax — service taxes (14 percent) are charged by restaurants and in turn have to pay to the Central government. Meanwhile, service charges (between 8 percent and 12 percent) are charged by the restaurant and is usually distributed among the employees. Read the full Mid-Day article here.