Friday, November 16, 2007

Service charge to go on: SC
The Supreme Court on Thursday settled the long-standing controversy surrounding the 10 percent service charge being levied in hotels, deciding to allow hotels to collect the charge.
The court brought the controversy to an end by quashing a public interest litigation questioning the charge on the ground of consumers' rights. Consumer rights activist and advocate Jyoti Baniya had filed the petition.
Justices Tap Bahadur Magar and Pawan Kumar Ojha, while quashing the petition said, "The levying of service charge does not violate consumers' right."
In the meantime, hotel workers affiliated to Maoist trade union staged a protest rally against the lawsuit and advocate Baniya. They also vandalized Baniya's and and another advocate Ram Chandra Simkhada's offices for the lawsuit, according to Baniya and Simkhada.
Nepal Bar Association (NBA) has expressed concern over the Maoist trade union's activities against the advocates. "NBA warns of protests if professional lawyers are threatened while carrying out their profession in future," NBA President Bishwa Kanth Mainali said while condemning the trade union.

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