Pay ₹3L to student, consumer panel orders immigration firm

After Monika reached the UK and began attending classes, the university told her that £700 (around ₹ 88,000) in tuition fees remained unpaid. She paid the amount in instalments, the commission noted

The district consumer disputes redressal commission directed Settling Abroad Services to pay ₹3 lakh with 6% annual interest and ₹30,000 in compensation and litigation expenses to a woman who alleged that the immigration firm mishandled her university fee and travel arrangements for studies in the United Kingdom (UK).

The commission also found that the firm failed to arrange the promised airport taxi and hotel booking. (HT File)

In an order, commission president SK Aggarwal and member Paramjeet Kaur partly allowed a complaint filed by Monika, a resident of Chandigarh, through her attorney, Avtar Singh.

Monika told the commission that she and her husband approached the firm to process her UK study application. Its representative, Amandeep Singh, allegedly charged ₹17,700 as file fees and assured them that they would pay university and visa-related charges directly, apart from the firm’s service fee.

According to the complaint, the firm later asked the family to route part of the tuition fee through it. Monika’s father-in-law transferred £7,000 (around ₹8.8 lakh) to Birmingham City University on December 18, 2020, while ₹5,01,500 was paid to the firm on January 6, 2021, for the remaining £5,800 (around ₹7.3 lakh), the complaint stated. The family also paid ₹80,000 by cheque into an account held by a person named Pawan Kumar.

After Monika reached the UK and began attending classes, the university told her that £700 (around ₹ 88,000) in tuition fees remained unpaid. She paid the amount in instalments, the commission noted. The shortfall also cost her a £1,500 (around ₹1.8 lakh) scholarship and a £300 (around ₹37,000) tuition discount, which the university offered to students who paid their fees in full.

The commission also found that the firm failed to arrange the promised airport taxi and hotel booking. Monika paid £285 (around ₹36,000) for a taxi herself and had earlier paid ₹1.27 lakh to the firm for hotel arrangements, but had to book accommodation independently.

The firm denied deficiency in service. It said it had deposited £12,800 (around ₹16 lakh) with the university and argued that the ₹80,000 cheque went to Pawan Kumar, who had no connection with the company. It also claimed that the ₹1.27 lakh covered the woman’s Virgin Atlantic ticket and hotel booking.

After reviewing the documents, the commission found that the firm had deposited £700 (around ₹88,000) less than the tuition fee it received and failed to establish that it had arranged the taxi or hotel. It calculated the student’s entitlement at £2,285 (around ₹2.8 lakh), covering the taxi expense, lost scholarship and tuition discount, at an exchange rate of ₹126 per pound.

The commission ordered the firm to pay ₹2,89,052 with 6% annual interest from January 31, 2022, when the complaint was filed, until payment. It also directed the firm to pay ₹30,000 for mental agony, harassment and litigation expenses.