Check prices in eateries: High Court
Tags:
Expressing concern over galloping food prices in hotels and restaurants, Kerala high court has asked the state to consider enacting appropriate legislation to help the common man out.
The court felt that establishing a machinery for regulating prices of food articles would ensure consumers are not unjustly fleeced.
“The floating population of cities depend on hotels and restaurants for food. They are helpless in the matter of pricing and are bound to pay whatever the hotel owner demands as price,” Justice S. Siri Jagan said.
The court passed the order when Kerala hotel and restaurant association challenged an order of the Thrissur district consumer disputes redressal forum.
The forum, responding to a complaint on steep increase in food prices in eateries, fixed the prices of food articles in hotels and restaurants.
The court congratulated the action of the forum but quashed the original complaint, saying it was legally not maintainable.
The high court also observed that whenever officers of public health department or a local authority seized food unfit for consumption, the names of these hotels were not appearing in the media.
The court asked the state to take appropriate action in accordance with law to check prices.to at least minimize the miseries of the common man who depended on hotels and restaurants for his food requirements.
Post new comment