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As many as 85 complaints have been registered on the Nationwide Shopper Helpline (NCH) after new pointers have been issued on July 4 barring resorts and eating places from levying service cost by default, the Central Shopper Safety Authority (CCPA) mentioned on Saturday and directed all district collectors to take strict motion in opposition to the violators.
The highest 5 cities when it comes to service cost complaints registered between July 5-8 are — New Delhi, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Pune and Ghaziabad.
Shopper safety regulator CCPA has written to chief secretaries and district collectors of states and union territories to make sure vast publicity of the brand new pointers and take acceptable motion in opposition to violators for defense of shopper curiosity, it added.
On July 4, the CCPA got here out with the brand new pointers barring resorts and eating places from levying service cost routinely or by default in meals payments. It additionally clearly said what steps customers can soak up case of violation of the rules.
“From July 5 to July 8, 2022 i.e. after the rules have been issued by CCPA, 85 complaints have been registered on NCH,” the CCPA mentioned in a press release.
About 18 complaints have been obtained in New Delhi, 15 in Bengaluru, 11 in Mumbai, 4 in Pune and three complaints in Ghaziabad.
The main grievances embody resorts/eating places making service cost obligatory, embarrassing customers in case they resist paying it, including the cost by another identify and suppressing the data from customers that paying service cost is voluntary.
About 537 complaints have been lodged by customers on levying service expenses from April 1, 2021 to June 20, 2022, the CCPA mentioned.
Stating that the brand new pointers should not “advisory in nature”, CCPA Chief Commissioner Nidhi Khare mentioned they’re totally “enforceable by regulation.”
The rules have been issued underneath Part 18(2)(l) of the Shopper Safety Act, 2019, which empowers the CCPA to problem obligatory pointers to forestall unfair commerce practices and shield customers’ curiosity, she mentioned.
Consequently, the CCPA has written to chief secretaries and district collectors of all states with a transparent path that levying of service cost in violation of the rules constitutes unfair commerce observe and impacts rights of customers as a category, and cognisance of such complaints have to be taken on precedence.
“The district collector might conduct investigation on violation of the rules on the premise of such a grievance and submit his report back to CCPA inside 15 days,” she mentioned.
The distinction between the brand new pointers issued by CCPA and the earlier guideline is that within the intervening interval, the erstwhile Shopper Safety Act, 1986 was changed with the Shopper Safety Act 2019, which got here into impact in July 2020.
It created a brand new statutory physique CCPA which has been empowered by Parliament to take cognisance of the unfair commerce practices. Subsequently, any violation of the rules will likely be seen significantly and acceptable motion will likely be taken for unfair commerce observe and violating the rights of customers, the assertion mentioned.
If any shopper finds {that a} resort or restaurant is levying service cost in violation of the rules, the CCPA mentioned a shopper could make a request to the involved resort or restaurant to take away the cost from the invoice quantity.
Customers can lodge a grievance on the NCH, which works as a dispute redressal mechanism on the pre-litigation degree, by calling the quantity 1915 or by the NCH cellular app.
Customers can even file a grievance with the Shopper Fee. The grievance might be filed electronically by e-daakhil portal www.edaakhil.nic.in for its speedy and efficient redressal.
Apart from, customers can submit a grievance to the District Collector of the involved district for investigation and subsequent proceedings by the CCPA. The grievance might also be despatched to the CCPA by e-mail at com-ccpa@nic.in.
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