Restaurants fleece customers on MRP

Hyderabad: Restaurants in the city continue to flout rules and charge more than the Maximum Retail Price (MRP) from customers on certain drinks and water bottles and are selling products without proper packaging details, which are mandatory.

In a surprise inspection conducted by the Legal Metrology Department (LMD) from August 26 to 28, violations were found against the prescribed rules of LMD in Santhosh Castle, Abids, By the Bottle, Jubilee hills and Up and Above Cafe and bar in Secunderabad and order copies were given to the complainants on Wednesday.

Narrating one of the incidents, Mr Srikhande Umesh Kumar, a lecturer and the complainant in all three instances, said that he went to Santhosh Castle on August 2 along with his friends and they ordered food along with four soft drinks on which they were charged an additional amount of Rs 4 on each soft drink.

When they questioned restaurant, they only got the reply that it’s ‘usual’ to charge an excess amount on soft drinks for all customers.

However, the complainant approached Legal Metrology and complained, following which there was a surprise inspection at Santhosh Castle and violations of charging more than the MRP were found and a case registered.

In the raids that was conducted on By the bottle, Jubilee hills, the LMD has registered three cases. The violations include charging excess price on Red Bull, which was Rs 99 but was sold for Rs 289 by the management, liquor was also served short of 20ml, which is a monetary loss of Rs 213 to the customer and they were also levying five  per cent extra on the service charge. Three cases were booked against the management.

In another instance, a case was registered on Up and Above Cafe and Bar, Secunderabad for not making declarations like name and address of the manufacturer or the month and year of packing on water bottles and milk packets.

Despite rules and regulations being in place, many restaurants continue to collect excess amount on soft drinks and water bottles and silence consumers who question the, stating that the charge is for ‘ambience’ and other reasons.  

More and more people should come forward and bring these kinds of practices to the notice of concerned authorities for proper action.

Strict measures need to be taken to enforce the rules that are in place, added Mr Umesh Kumar, the complainant in all three cases.