In Re L’opera French Bakery Private Limited (L’opera India) (CCPA Delhi)
The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) took suo motu cognizance of a grievance filed by Ms. Varuni Khosla on the National Consumer Helpline (NCH) through Docket No. 7079303 dated 16.04.2025 against L’Opera French Bakery Private Limited alleging that service charge had been levied on the bill in addition to CGST and SGST. Referring to the Delhi High Court judgment dated 28.03.2025 in National Restaurant Association of India & Ors. v. Union of India & Anr., which upheld the CCPA Guidelines on levy of service charge and held mandatory service charge contrary to law, the CCPA conducted a preliminary inquiry under Sections 18(2) and 19 of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019. It found a prima facie case that the restaurant had continued to levy service charge through a software-generated billing system, potentially affecting consumers as a class, and issued a notice dated 02.05.2025.
In its reply dated 29.05.2025, the restaurant stated that it acknowledged the consumer’s complaint on 29.04.2025, agreed to reverse the service charge, and subsequently credited loyalty points equivalent to the service charge to the consumer’s membership account with the consumer’s consent. It updated the NCH portal regarding the resolution and submitted that consumers were informed that service charge was optional and that outlet teams had been instructed to prevent recurrence.
