CCPA fines IAS coaching firm ₹3 lakh for misleading ad
The CCPA has imposed a penalty of ₹3 lakh on Sriram’s IAS for misleading and exaggerated claims in its advertisements.
The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA), a federal regulator, has imposed a penalty of ₹3 lakh on Sriram’s IAS, which trains aspirants for civil-services examination, for misleading and exaggerated claims in its advertisements, according to CCPA chief commissioner Nidhi Khare.
Khare, who is also the Union consumer affairs secretary, and commissioner Anupam Mishra slapped the penalty after a CCPA probe held that the coaching institute had violated provisions of the Consumer Protection Act 2019, which bars misleading, wrong or false advertisements prejudicial to consumers, along with concealment of facts.
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Sriram’s IAS was probed for two claims. First, the institute had advertised that it had achieved “200-plus selections in UPSC Civil Service Exam 2022”. Second, its ads carried the tagline, “We are India's No.1 Prestigious UPSC/IAS Coaching Institute”.
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In January, the CCPA had published a set of guidelines for commercial coaching institutes, making it an offence to make any type of guaranteed claims, such as selection to ‘prelims’ or assured ranks and scores, among other rules, related to advertisements.
Fierce competition to secure an engineering or a medical seat and exaggerated assurances of success in civil-services tests often push aspirants into mental trauma and even suicide, a key reason why the government sought to tighten regulations. Spawning coaching institutes and their operations sparked a major controversy when three students drowned after their illegal basement classroom was flooded after a cloudburst in Delhi on July 28.
“Sriram’s IAS advertised various types of courses but the information with respect to the course opted by the advertised successful candidates in abovementioned UPSC Civil Service exams results was deliberately concealed in the advertisement,” the CCPA ruled.
In other words, the courses opted by the successful candidates were not revealed, which had the effect of making aspirants believe that all the paid-for courses being advertised were specifically the ones opted by those who had cleared the exam. There was also no empirical evidence to establish that Sriram's IAS was the "No. 1" institute.
The HT contacted Sriram’s IAS over phone and email for a response, which wasn’t answered at the time of going to print.
On the number of successful candidates, Sriram’s IAS response included details of 171 successful candidates against its claim of 200-plus selections in UPSC CSE 2022, the CCPA said. The majority of candidates shown as successful had already cleared preliminary and mains examination with “no contribution” from Sriram’s IAS, the CCPA’s probe found.
Of these 171 candidates, 102 were from free interview guidance programme, 55 were from free test series, nine were from general studies classroom course and five candidates were from different states under MoUs signed with state governments and the Institute to provide free coaching. “This fact was not disclosed in their advertisement, thereby deceiving consumers,” the CCPA’s ruling stated.
