India, March 28 -- The Delhi high court on Friday upheld the guidelines issued by the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA), prohibiting hotels and restaurants from automatically levying a'service charge' on food bills.

The guidelines were issued in July 2022 for preventing unfair trade practices and violation of consumer rights concerning levying service charges.

The high court said that the imposition of a service charge in a mandatory manner is "violative of consumer rights and the collection of service charge in various names amounts to unfair trade practices."

"The registrants should not add the service charge mandatorily but must leave it to the consumer's discretion," the court added. Justice Prathiba M Singh pronounced t...