New Delhi, Sep 1 (IANS): The Centre and the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) on Wednesday apprised the Delhi High Court that the new guidelines on the service charge of eateries were issued after consumers were being forced to pay it, irrespective of the kind of services they get.

Stating that the guidelines only ensure consumers are given choice to decide on service charges, the consumer watchdog said the guidelines do not interfere with the right of restaurants or hotels to set prices at which they want to offer their food and services.

It also claimed that a Twitter poll has revealed that over 88 per cent of consumers are against the service charge.

The submissions, through the counter affidavit of the CCPA, were listed before Justice Yashwant Varma. However, the matter will be heard further on October 6 as they are not recorded.

The affidavit was filed in reply to the hotels and restaurants associations' plea against the newly-launched CCPA guidelines. On July 20, the high court halted these guidelines and the CCPA again approached the court to do away with the stay.

"Mandatorily imposing service charge would defeat the provisions of Consumer Protection Act, 2019 as money is collected from consumers without allowing them the choice or discretion to decide if they want to pay it," stated the affidavit.

"When a consumer is availing the service of a hotel or restaurant, she/he is availing the service of the hotel or restaurant as a whole and is not taking any separate service from the staff/employees of the restaurant/hotel individually. Therefore, the question of levying service charges separately does not arise," it argued.

"..levying of service charge automatically or by default in the bill without allowing consumers the choice or discretion to decide whether they want to pay such charge or not is a violation of their rights as a consumer," it read.