CCPA slaps 27 restaurants for making service charge mandatory, imposes fines up to Rs 50,000

New Delhi, Jan 10 The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) has taken action against 27 restaurants across India for violating consumer rights by mandatorily levying service charges on food bills, the government said on Saturday. During investigations, the consumer watchdog found that several restaurants were adding a 10 per cent service charge by default. Among them were Cafe Blue Bottle in Patna and China Gate Restaurant Private Limited, which operates Bora Bora in Mumbai. The authority noted that these actions directly violated the law and the CCPA guidelines. Such practices amount to unfair trade practices under the Consumer Protection Act,…