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Over 300 parents duped of lakhs of rupees in coaching fees as FIIT JEE shuts down centres in Pune
The coaching starts from Class 8 at these centres and the fee per student is more than ₹2.5 lakhs per annum
More than 300 students and their parents have been duped of lakhs of rupees in fees with the FIIT JEE coaching class abruptly shutting down its centres in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad. An official police complaint was lodged yesterday by a group of parents at the Chinchwad police station.
Pritam Pande, whose daughter was attending the FIIT JEE coaching centre in Pimpri-Chinchwad, said, “A week ago, an unofficial meeting was taken by the Pimpri-Chinchwad centre head, Rajesh Karn, who said that the centre is soon going to be closed. Later one more meeting was held and the staff at the centre were informed that their salaries and the rent had not been paid. Since Monday, we have been visiting the centre daily to inquire about classes and most importantly, refund of lakhs of rupees in fees that we have paid. My daughter is studying in Class 11. When I took admission to the FIIT JEE coaching class, I paid ₹247,000 in one go as fees.”
There are two FIIT JEE coaching centres; one in Pimpri-Chinchwad and the other at Swargate. More than 300 students have been studying in these centres since the past few years. The coaching starts from Class 8 at these centres and the fee per student is more than ₹2.5 lakhs per annum. There is a foundation course from Classes 8 to 10 and subsequently in Classes 11 and 12, actual preparations for the JEE exams begin.
Pande said, “There are more than 60 centres of the FIIT JEE coaching classes across the country and we got to know that five to six centres in other parts of the country too have been closed. When we got to know about the closure of these centres, all of us parents went to the centre but there was no one except security guards. Yesterday, all of us parents went to Pimpri-Chinchwad police to lodge a complaint. Accordingly, we have filed a written complaint with the police and they are investigating the case.”
When contacted, Jitendra Koli, senior police inspector in-charge of the Chinchwad police station, said, “We have got the complaint from a group of parents and as per my information, the state education department will conduct the overall inquiry in this case about the coaching class, fees paid by parents, norms and rules for coaching classes etc. Once we get the report or any official communication from the education department, an FIR will be lodged and further action will be taken accordingly.”
Another parent whose son was studying at the Swargate coaching centre, said, “We had taken a personal loan of ₹3 lakh to pay our son’s coaching class fees for last year. And now, the FIIT JEE has closed its centres. He is in Class 12 this year and when we inquired with other coaching classes, they are demanding higher fees as we did not enrol there earlier.”
Hindustan Times tried to reach out to FIIT JEE but there was no response to our phone calls and emails.
