Man wins fee refund from coaching centre after daughter fails

Bengaluru: A 42-year-old resident of the city sued a coaching institute after his daughter failed in class 9 exams despite promising better results.

Trilok Chand Gupta d had enrolled his daughter with a reputed coaching institute in Rajajinagar in mid-2019 to provide her tuition for physics, chemistry, maths and biology as part of the ICSE syllabus, but she failed in the exams after being tutored for five months. Following which her father alleged that it was due to lack of attention from teachers who did not conduct regular classes.

On March 3, 2020 Gupta had lodged a complaint with the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission in Shantinagar, seeking a refund of Rs 69,408 which he had paid to the institute. While he presented the case on his own, the institute’s lawyer argued that the complaint doesn’t stand as it was not a consumer issue and that they are providing service in imparting education.

The the judges after examining the case for 10 months pointed out that the father wanted to withdraw his daughter from the institute midway in August 2019 and the student too wanted to discontinue, but a representative of the institute convinced him to do otherwise and made him pay additional fees after promising better education.

Finally on January 2021, the forum asked the institute’s managing director and its Rajajinagar branch head to refund fee of Rs 26,250, from the time she was forced to continue, along with a litigation cost of Rs 5,000 within six weeks of the order.