NEW DELHI: The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) has imposed a penalty of Rs 2 lakh for a misleading advertisement on a Delhi-based civil services coaching centre Shubhra Ranjan IAS Study.
The coaching centre and their online edtech platform published a misleading advertisement by using photos and names of successful candidates to influence prospective aspirants. In the advertisements, it has not disclosed courses opted by such candidates or the fees paid by them and length of the course so attended.
On 13 November, the CCPA issued new guidelines to prevent coaching centers from making false or misleading claims or advertisements to promote the quality or standard of their services.
Nidhi Khare, Chief Commissioner of the CCPA and Anupam Mishra, Commissioner, have issued an order against Shubhra Ranjan IAS Study for misleading advertisement regarding UPSC Civil Service Exam 2023.
The DG Investigation report found that most of the claimed successful students took the Political Science and International Relations (PSIR) crash course and test series which comes into play after clearing Preliminary examination.
Moreover, the institute used terms such as "Shubhra Ranjan IAS" and "Students of Shubhra Ranjan IAS" in its advertisements and letterheads, creating a deceptive impression that Mrs Shubhra Ranjan is or was an IAS officer.
When TNIE reached out to the coaching institute for their response, they did not respond till the report went to press.
On November 22, the CCPA has also slapped a penalty of Rs 7 Lakh on Vajirao& Reddy Institute for advertising misleading claims regarding the results of UPSC CSE 2022.
Last year, the CCPA, had slapped a penalty of Rs 1 lakh against IQRA IAS Institute for false claims and found misleading advertisements.
So far, the CCPA has imposed a penalty of Rs 63.60 on 20 coaching institutes and directed them to discontinue the misleading advertiseme