NEW DELHI: In a move to protect consumer interest, the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) has issued 45 notices to various coaching centres for misleading advertisements. Further, the CCPA has imposed a penalty of Rs 61,60,000 on 19 coaching institutes and directed them to cease unfair trade practices and discontinue misleading advertisements.
The Union Minister of State for the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution B L Verma informed the Rajya Sabha that the government has been proactively intervening to ensure justice for students and aspirants who enrolled to various coaching institutes due to misleading advertisements.
“The unfair practices by various coaching centres especially not refunding the enrolment fees of the students/ aspirants, NCH initiated a drive to resolve these grievances on a mission-mode to facilitate a total refund of Rs 1.15 crore to affected students,” said Verma.
On November 13, 2024, the CCPA issued “Guidelines for Prevention of Misleading Advertisement in Coaching Sector, 2024” in order to prevent coaching centres from making false or misleading claims/advertisements to promote the sale of goods or service and engage in deceptive or unfair practices.
There was general consensus among committee members that CCPA should come with guidelines for prevention of misleading advertisements in the coaching sector. The members of the committee constitute industry stakeholders such as top coaching institutes, law firms, civil society, government departments and others.
The guidelines explicitly prohibit coaching institutes from making false claims, misleading representations about the quality or standard of their services, creating a false sense of urgency or scarcity.
It lays down rules which make it necessary to disclose important information, such as the name, rank, and course details alongside the student’s photo in advertisements and fair contracts.
The CCPA has observed that some coaching centers conceal critical information regarding course details, fees, and the success rates of their students. The authority has also noted instances where coaching institutes falsely claim 100% selection rates, job guarantees, and assured success in competitive exams, without providing verifiable evidence.
In a similar crackdown last year, the CCPA imposed Rs 1 lakh fine on IQRA IAS Institute for making false claims in its advertisements.