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The federal regulator, Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA), has imposed the fine According to CCPA Chief Commissioner Nidhi Khare, Shriram IAS Institute, which trains candidates for the civil services examination, has been fined Rs 3 lakh for making misleading and exaggerated claims in its advertisements.
Khare, who is also the Union Consumer Affairs Secretary, and Commissioner Anupam Mishra imposed the fine after a CCPA probe found that the coaching institute had violated provisions of the Consumer Protection Act 2019, which prohibits concealment of facts as well as misleading, inaccurate or false advertisements causing harm to consumers.
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Sriram’s IAS was investigated for two claims. First, the institute had advertised that it had “secured over 200 selections in UPSC Civil Services Exam 2022”. Second, its advertisements had the tagline, “We are India’s No. 1 reputed UPSC/IAS coaching institute”.
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In January, the CCPA had published guidelines for professional coaching institutes, which, among other rules regarding advertisements, made it an offence to make any kind of guaranteed claims, such as selection in a ‘preliminary’ exam or assured rank and score.
The tough competition to secure engineering or medical seats and the exaggerated assurance of success in civil-services exams often push candidates to mental trauma and even suicide, which is the main reason why the government sought to tighten the rules. Coaching institutes and their operations sparked a major controversy when three students drowned after their illegal basement classrooms got flooded following a cloudburst in Delhi on July 28.
“Shri Ram’s IAS advertised a wide variety of courses, but information regarding the course opted by the successful candidates as advertised in the above-mentioned UPSC Civil Services Examination results was deliberately concealed in the advertisement,” the CCPA ruled.
In other words, the courses chosen by the successful candidates were not disclosed, which in effect led candidates to believe that all the paid courses being advertised were chosen exclusively by those who had cleared the exam. There was also no empirical evidence to establish that Sriram’s IAS was the “No. 1” institute.
HT reached Sriram IAS over phone and email for a response but did not receive one till the time of going to print.
The CCPA said that Sriram’s IAS reply about the number of successful candidates included details of 171 successful candidates as against the claim of over 200 selections in UPSC CSE 2022. The CCPA investigation found that most of the candidates shown as successful had already cleared the preliminary and main exams, with Sriram’s IAS having “no contribution”.
Out of these 171 candidates, 102 were from the free interview guidance programme, 55 were from the free test series, nine were from the general studies class course and five candidates were from various states under MoUs signed with the state governments and the institute for providing free coaching. “This fact was not disclosed in their advertisement, thereby deceiving the consumers,” the CCPA ruling said.
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