NEW DELHI: The government has been coming up with guidelines to control misleading advertisements in the coaching sector which is marred with tall claims and no accountability. It constituted a committee that empanelled owners and management of private coaching institutes to draft the guidelines. The committee conducted its first meeting on Wednesday.
The Committee observed that there is an urgent need to issue the Guidelines and the Draft as discussed in the Meeting should be issued at the earliest.
The committee’s chairman is Rohit Kumar Singh, Secretary Department of Consumer Affairs and Chief Commissioner of CCPA along with other members Commissioner (CCPA), representatives from the Department of Personnel & Training (DoPT), Ministry of Education, National Law University (NLU), Delhi, FIITJEE, Khan Global Studies and Ikigai Law. Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA) participated in the meeting.
It is worth noting that, last year in September, the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA), India’s consumer regulatory body, had slapped a penalty of Rs 1,00,000 against civil services preparation coaching institute IQRA IAS Institute for false claims and found misleading advertisements. It had directed the institute to remove misleading advertisements and stop unfair trade practices.
“Protection of consumer’s interest is a paramount concern to CCPA,” says Singh. He highlighted the need for clarity, specifically in addressing certain aspects related to advertisements in the coaching sector. He further stated that CCPA firmly believes in safeguarding the rights of consumers and ensuring no false or misleading advertisement is made of any goods or services that contravenes the provisions of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019.
The Guidelines shall be applicable to all the coaching institutes whether online or physical and cover all forms of advertisement regardless of form, format or medium.
The Guidelines also provide that coaching institutes shall not make false claims regarding success rates or number of selections or any other practices that may lead to consumer misunderstanding or subvert consumer autonomy and choice.
CCPA has observed that some of the coaching institutes mislead consumers by deliberately concealing important information with respect to courses opted for by successful candidates, the duration of the course so attended & the fees paid by the candidates.
CCPA also observed that some of the coaching Institutes also indulge in making claims like 100% selection, 100% job guaranteed and guaranteed preliminary and main examination without providing verifiable evidence.