The government has issued notification that makes levy of service charge by restaurants illegal. The new rule comes as the NDA government is completing three years in office on May 26. Food minister Ram Vilas Paswan said forcing consumers to pay a fixed service charge is illegal under the Consumer Protection Act. Financial Chronicle was the first to report that Paswan would take up cudgels on the behalf of consumers against levy of service charge. Several restaurants levy 10 per cent service charge on food bills, which it says is used for welfare activity of staff. This charge, in addition to state VAT and service tax, has increased the levy on food bills to over 30 per cent.
The minister said the direct benefit transfer (DBT) being implemented in Puducherry, Chandigarh and Dadra & Nagar Haveli with regard to the National Food Security Act (NFSA), which started as a pilot project, will be permanent and beneficiaries will continue to receive in cash. Paswan said states have been advised to roll out DBT, but it has to be full proof, as the government does not want any beneficiary to be left out. He said the government will focus on nutritional security of the country’s two-third poor population.
The food law provides for legal entitlement of 5-kg foodgrains to every beneficiary per month at Rs 1-3/kg. As many as 81 crore people are covered under the law, which was enacted by the previous UPA regime.
The food law was implemented in 2013 when only 11 states had rolled it out. In the last three years, all the states have started implementing it, Paswan said.
The ministry has chalked out plans for supplying fortified wheat and rice flour via public distribution system (PDS), and is seriously deliberating with stakeholders on supplying nutritious food in a cost effective manner. “I have asked the department to look into the matter. We will work on this proactively next two years,” he said.
He also spoke on the problems faced by the government in disposing off the pulses from the buffer stock. The government has created a buffer stock of 20 lakh tonnes of pulses to manage price volatility under the Price Stabilisation Fund. It has procured 16.27 lakh tonnes locally and also imported 3.79 lakh tonnes, Paswan said, adding: “There is one problem, how do we distribute it.”
The ministry is in talks with various states and agencies for sale of pulses from the buffer stock. It is also planning to sell some quantities to the defence and paramilitary forces. Pulses production has gone up this year and farmers are not getting the right price.
However, higher output has helped retail prices cool down, he added. On retail prices of 22 essential commodities tracked by the government, Paswan said they are stable and under control. “With GST and implementation of e-national agri-market, both farmers and consumers will benefit,” he added.Paswan also said that with the intention of facilitating ‘ease of doing business,’ guidelines for direct selling were issued after detailed deliberations by an inter-ministerial committee.
The guidelines are in the form of an advisory to state governments and provide transparency, ease to consumers and establishing a grievance redressal mechanism for consumers.
