Government bans charging of “LPG fee” in hotels and restaurants, says strict action will be taken if violated

New Delhi. Following the global gas crisis, the Central Government has issued a strict advisory on charging “LPG charges” from customers in hotels and restaurants in the country and has banned it with immediate effect, terming it an unfair trade practice.

A statement issued by the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution said that the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) has taken strong cognizance of hotels and restaurants levying additional charges such as “LPG charge”, “Gas surcharge” and “Fuel cost recovery” in consumer bills, and termed the practice as an unfair trade practice under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019.

Stating that such charges are being levied by default to circumvent the existing guidelines on service charges, the statement said, the new advisory issued by the CCPA under Section 10 of the Consumer Protection Act 2019 directs that no such charges shall be levied automatically, and warned that violations may lead to strict action.

The government said that based on complaints received on the National Consumer Helpline (NCH) and media reports, CCPA has observed that some hotels and restaurants are charging such charges by default in consumer bills, over and above the price of food and beverages displayed in the menu and applicable taxes. Such practices result in a lack of transparency and impose unfair cost burdens on consumers.

The CCPA said input costs such as fuel, LPG, electricity and other operating expenses are part of the cost of running a business and should be included in the prices of menu items. Recovering such costs through a separate mandatory fee is considered an unfair trade practice under Section 2(47) of the Act.

CCPA further said in the advisory that no hotel or restaurant shall by default or automatically charge “LPG charge”, “Gas charge” or similar charges in the bill and the price displayed in the menu shall be the final price to which only applicable taxes may be added separately.