Date of Filing – 22.06.2017
Date of Hearing – 18.01.2018
The instant appeal under Section 15 of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 (hereinafter referred to as ‘the Act’) is at the behest of the Opposite Party No.1 to assail the Judgement/Final Order dated 23.05.2017 passed by the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum, North 24 Parganas at Barasat (for short, Ld. District Forum) in Consumer Complaint No. 387/2016. By the impugned order, the Ld. District Forum allowed the consumer complaint lodged by the Respondent No.1under Section 12 of the Act ex-parte against the Opposite Parties with a direction upon Opposite Party Nos. 1 & 2 to refund of Rs.81,600/- + Rs.20,000/- as compensation and litigation cost of Rs.5,000/- totalling rs.1,06,600/- to the Complainant within one month from the date of order, failing which the amount shall carry interest @ 6% p.a. from the date of order till its realisation.
The Respondent No.1 herein being Complainant lodged the complaint before the Ld. District Forum asserting that after taking part in an entrance examination, OP No.2 allotted her the course for Electronics & Communication Engineering (ECE) Courses and accordingly complainant paid the provisional allotment fees of Rs.15,000/- and took admission for ECE Course for the academic year 2014-2015 in the Guru Nanak Institute of Technology at Sodepur, P.S.- Panihati, Dist- North 24 Parganas. The complainant has also paid Rs.66,000/- on 02.06.2014 as admission fees and Rs.1,000/- on 03.06.2014 as application kit totalling Rs.82,600/-. Before commencement of regular classes of the 1st semester for the academic session 2014-2015, complainant expressed her desire to the OP No.1 that due to some unavoidable circumstances, she was unable to continue with her studies at the institution of OP No.1 for the said academic year with a request to refund of the amount of Rs.82,600/- by letter dated 04.08.2014. The said letter was received by the office of OP No.1 on 05.08.2014 and the regular classes for the 1st year B.Tech. student started from 18.08.2014. The complainant stated that on several occasions, she met the officials of OP No.1 and they verbally assured that admission fee will be refunded by nothing has been done except those assurances. Hence, the respondent no.1 approached the Ld. District Forum with prayer for several reliefs including refund of Rs.82,600/- with interest @ 12% p.a., Rs. 50,000/- as compensation and Rs.10,000/- as litigation cost.
The Appellant or the Respondent No. 2 being Opposite Party Nos. 1 & 2 did not contest despite service of notice upon them.
After assessing the materials on record including the evidence led by the complainant, the Ld. District Forum by the impugned judgement/final order allowed the complaint with the directions upon the opposite parties as indicated above. Being aggrieved and dissatisfied with the said order, the OP No.1 i.e. the Principal, Guru Nanak Institute of Technology has come up in this Commission with the present appeal.
Ld. Advocate for the Appellant has submitted that the Ld. District Forum erred in law by allowing the complaint as it has no locus standi to entertain the complaint as the Respondent No.1/Complainant is not a ‘consumer’ as per observation of the Hon’ble Supreme Court reported in 2010 (11) SCC 549 [Maharshi Dayananda University – Vs. – Surjeet Kaur] where it has been held that education is not a commodity and as such complainant cannot be categorised as consumer. Ld. Advocate for the Appellant has also drawn my attention to a decision of Hon’ble National Commission reported in 2014 (3) CPJ 120 [Regional Institute of Cooperative Management, through its Director, Chandigarh – Vs. – Naveen Kumar Chaudhary]. Referring to those decisions, Ld. Advocate for the appellant has prayed for setting aside the impugned order.
Per contra, Ld. Advocate for the Respondent No.1 has drawn my attention to a public notice issued by All India Council for Technical Education being Advt. No.AICTE/DPG/06(02)/2009 and has submitted that when in consonance with the said notice, the Ld. District Forum has passed the order, the order should not be interfered with. To fortify his submission, he has also placed reliance to a decision of Hon’ble National Commission reported in 2016 (1) CPR 898 [WLC College India Ltd. – Vs. – Ajay S. Bhatt].
I have given due consideration to the submission advanced by the Ld. Advocates appearing for the parties and scrutinised the materials on record.
Undisputedly, the Respondent No.1 was admitted in B.Tech. Course in Electronics & Communication Engineering (ECE) for the academic year, 2014-2015 in the Guru Nanak Institute of Technology, Sodepur, P.S.- Panihati, Dist- North 24 Parganas. The evidence speaks that the respondent no.1 has deposited all total Rs.82,600/- for that purpose of which Rs.15,000/- was allotment fee, Rs.66,000/- was admission fee and Rs.1,000/- as application kit. The regular classes of 1st year B. Tech. Student started from 18.08.2014 and the respondent no.1 by a letter dated 04.08.2014 expressed her inability to continue with her studies at the institution for the said academic year with a request to refund the deposited amount and the same was duly received by the office of the appellant on 05.08.2014.
Therefore, the whole dispute pivot around the question – as to whether the respondent no.1/complainant is entitled to refund the amount and if so, how much amount would be deducted from the amount deposited by the respondent no.1 with the institution.
In this regard, the public notice issued by AICTE (as referred above) appears to be relevant. In the said notice, it has been stated –
“In the event of a student/candidate withdrawing before the starting of the courses, the wait listed candidates should be given admission against the vacant seat. The entire fee corrected from the student, after a deduction of the processing fee of not more than Rs.1,000/- (Rupees one thousand only) shall be refunded and returned by the institution to the student/candidate withdrawing from the programme. It would not be permissible for the institution to retain the school/institution leaving certificate in original. ......”. The said public notice acquired support by a Notice issued by Maulana Abul Kalam Azad University of Technology, West Bengal (formerly West Bengal University of Technology) being No.1880/IC/107/2017 dated 01.08.2017 where it has been quoted –
“In the context the AICTE has given directive in their AICTE approval process Hand Book (2017-2018) which is to be reproduced below for urgent attention of all concerned.
In the event of a student withdrawing before the starting of the Course, the entire fee collected from the student, after deduction of the processing of fee not more than Rs.1,000/- (Rupees one thousand only) shall be refunded by the institution. It would not be permissible for institutions to retain the school/institution leaving certificates in original ....”.
The facts and circumstances indicate that the present dispute relates to administration aspect of the matter and has no match with the decisions referred on behalf of the appellant. In that perspective, the Ld. District Forum did not commit any wrong or irregularity in passing the order impugned directing the appellant and respondent no.2/OPs to refund Rs.81,600/- after deduction of Rs.1,000/- as process fee. The respondent no.1 had applied for refund on 04.08.2014 and though there was promised to refund the same, but the same was not translated into action and as such the appellant was deficient in rendering services, which in turn caused shock and mental agony of the respondent no.1. Therefore, the compensation of Rs.20,000/- and litigation cost of Rs.5,000/- awarded by the Ld. District Forum appeared to be justified and reasonable. Therefore, the impugned order should not be interfered with.
Consequently, the appeal is dismissed on contest. However, there will be no order as to costs in this appeal.
The impugned Judgement/Final Order is hereby affirmed.
The Registrar of this Commission is directed to send a copy of this order to the Ld. District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum, North 24 Parganas at Barasat for information.
