Coaching firm asked to compensate student's parent, refund Rs 40,000 fees in Maharashtra. Here's why

The Thane District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission has ordered a firm running coaching classes to pay a compensation of Rs 10,000 to a complainant for deficiency in service and refund Rs 40,000 deposited by him as fees for his son.

The order was passed by the commission on August 13 and a copy of it was made available on Wednesday. The complainant told the commission that he had enrolled his son at the coaching institute in Kalyan in Maharashtra in 2017 for taking classes for competitive exams.

He had paid Rs 40,000 as part of the fees and issued seven post-dated cheques (PDCs) for the rest of the payment. However, his son later changed his subjects and the firm did not agree to provide him coaching classes for the same.

Hence, the complainant decided to cancel his son's admission and sent a letter to the opponent on July 26, 2017 to refund Rs 40,000 paid by him and return the PDCs. When he did not get a proper reply from the opponent, he approached the consumer redressal commission.

The commission's president Milind S Sonawane and member Poonam V Maharshi in their order said the opponent had not only been deficient in service, but also adopted unfair trade practices in dealing with the complainant. Therefore, the complainant is entitled to get a refund of Rs 40,000 with an interest at 10 per annum from the date of the last payment made on July 18, 2017 till the realisation of the amount along with seven PDCs, they said.

He is also entitled to get Rs 7,000 towards physical and mental harassment and Rs 3,000 as cost of the case proceedings, they commission said in the order.