The National Restaurant Association of India on Monday issued a statement on suggesting that the customers were free not to eat at a restaurant if they did not wish to pay the service charge levied by it. The statement comes a day after the Centre reiterated that customers had the option to not pay service charges at a restaurant.

“Information regarding amount of service charge is to be clearly mentioned by the restaurants of their menu cards,” the statement by the restaurants’ body said. “…So that the customers can use their discretion of not using the facility offered by the restaurant.”

NRAI president Riyaz Amlani told The Times of India that many restaurants will simply ask customers to go somewhere else if they are not willing to pay the service charge. Amlani also said that this decision by the Department of Consumer Affairs will prove detrimental to employees. “All the employees who are associated with a restaurant including the dishwasher, the caretaker, the toilet cleaner, all depend on service charges,” he told IANS.

The Department of Consumer Agars on Monday directed the local administrations to “advise hotels and restaurants to display information” stating that the service charges are voluntary. The notification follows a rise in complaints against restaurants allegedly adding a service component to their bills.