The Sambalpur District Consumer Court penalised a restaurant at VSS Marg in Sambalpur for charging GST on a packaged drinking water bottle.
As per reports, one Sashank Sekhar Majhi dined at the restaurant a few days back. But while paying the bill, he saw the mineral water bottle provided at the restaurant was charged at Rs 35 while the MRP mentioned on the bottle label showed Rs 20.
Not only that, the food bill also included the water bottle and charged GST over it.
Majhi filed a complaint at the district consumer court following which the court ordered the restaurant to pay Rs 30,000 as compensation to the complainant for the ‘overcharge’ and also ordered to pay him Rs 10,000 towards court charges.
Petitioner’s lawyer Anil Mishra said, “The MRP for the water bottle was Rs 20. And as per the law, the MRP is inclusive of the GST. A seller cannot charge GST on the MRP. The restaurant not only charged Rs 35 for the water bottle, it also charged GST on it by including the water bottle in the total bill of the food. So in effect, the restaurant claimed GST on the water bottle twice.”
“The District Consumer Forum heard our case on March 11 and ordered a compensation of Rs 30,000 for the victim,” Mishra said.