CCPA Imposes Penalty Of Rs 3 Lakh On Coaching Centre For Misleading Advertisement On UPSC Civil Services Examination 2020

The coaching centre had concealed information on courses opted by successful candidates.

New Delhi: The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) has imposed a penalty of Rs 3 lakh on a renowned coaching centre for advertising misleading claims on the results of UPSC Civil Services Examination 2020.

As per the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution, the decision was taken to protect and promote the rights of consumers as a class and ensure that no false or misleading advertisement is made of any goods or services which contravenes the provisions of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019. In view of the violation of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019, the CCPA, headed by Chief Commissioner, Nidhi Khare, and Commissioner, Anupam Mishra issued the order against the coaching centre. As per order, the coaching centre for civil services claimed in its advertisement that the top 10 rankers of CSE 2020 had availed coaching in various programmes offered by it.

The CCPA found that the coaching centre prominently displayed successful candidates' names and pictures. However, the information with respect to the course opted by the successful candidates in UPSC Civil Service Exam 2020 was not disclosed in the advertisement, the Ministry said in its statement. The coaching centre mentioned the course opted by AIR 1- UPSC CSE 2020 GS Foundation Batch classroom student but deliberately concealed information regarding the courses chosen by the other nine successful candidates. This concealment created a misleading impression that the remaining nine candidates were also enrolled in the ‘GS Foundation Batch Classroom Student’ course which was not true. Out of remaining nine candidates- one took foundation courses, six took test series related to Preliminary and Mains stage and two took the Abhyaas test, the statement said.

Further, the CCPA examined the digital profiles and fee receipts submitted by coaching centre and discovered that the foundation course was quite expensive at Rs 1,40,000, whereas the Abhyaas one-time prelims mock test cost only Rs 750. As per available information, the candidate who had secured rank one had enrolled in the foundation course of 2018 (classroom/offline), while rank eight had enrolled in the Online Foundation Course 2015 of the institute, it said.

CCPA found that ranks two, three, five, seven, eight and 10 of UPSC CSE 2020 had enrolled in the GS Mains Test Series which comes into play in Mains examination after clearing the prelims which is a screening test wherein approximately only one per cent of the candidates are able to clear the said stage, making it the toughest stage with the most competition. Additionally, ranks four and nine of UPSC CSE 2020 had enrolled in Abhyaas test, a mock test for the Prelims exam. Similarly, rank six gad enrolled in the GS Prelims Test Series. This implies that the above mentioned candidates cleared the Mains and Interview stages on their own, without any contribution from the opposite party, the Ministry said.

CCPA observed that several coaching institutes use the same successful candidate’s names and photographs in their advertisements while deliberately concealing important information about specific courses opted by them to create a deception that they were regular classroom students or were students of several courses offered in the advertisement. CCPA had taken action against several coaching institutes for misleading advertisements and unfair trade practice. In this regard, CCPA has so far issued 46 notices to various coaching institutes for misleading advertisements and unfair trade practice. The CCPA has imposed a penalty of Rs 74.60 lakhs on 23 coaching institutes and directed them to discontinue the misleading advertisements, the Ministry statement said.