To protect students and aspirants from deceptive practices, the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) has imposed a penalty of Rs 5 lakh on Shankar IAS Academy for misleading advertisement regarding UPSC Civil Service Exam 2022.
Last month, CCPA served notices to around 45 coaching institutes over misleading ad claims and unethical tactics, of which 15 institutes were then penalised, with total fines amounting to around Rs 39 lakh.
In its ad for the UPSC Civil Service Exam 2022, Shankar IAS Academy made multiple claims including “336 selections out of 933 at All India Level” and “40 candidates in Top”. The ads also claimed that “42 candidates have cleared from Tamil Nadu, of which 37 studied at Shankar IAS Academy” and that it is “Best IAS Academy in India”.
The CCPA found out that the academy advertised various types of courses but the information with respect to the course opted by the advertised successful candidates in UPSC Civil Service exams results was deliberately concealed in the advertisement.
Shankar IAS Academy in its response submitted the details of only 333 successful candidates against its claim of 336 plus selections in UPSC CSE 2022. Out of 336 claimed students, 221 took Free Interview Guidance Programme, 71 took Mains Test Series, 35 took Prelims Test Series, 12 took General Studies Prelims cum Mains, 4 took Prelims Test Series with Some other mains course (optional and/or GS). This fact was not disclosed in their advertisement, thereby deceiving consumers. By concealing this important fact, such false and misleading advertisement creates huge impact on those consumers who are UPSC aspirants without letting them know that Shankar IAS Academy role in candidates’ success. Thus, the advertisement has violated the consumer’s right to be informed so as to protect itself against unfair trade practice.
This has the effect of consumers falsely believing that all the successful candidates so claimed by the Institute had opted for the paid courses advertised by the Institute on its website. In other words, this practice consequently attract consumers into buying paid courses advertised by the coaching institutes.
Cracking down on the academy, CCPA imposed penalty of Rs 5 lakh for misleading advertisement on Shankar IAS Academy. The decision was taken to protect and promote the rights of consumers as a class and ensure that no false or misleading advertisement is made of any goods or services which contravenes the provisions of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019.
Section 18 of the Act empowers CCPA that it shall ensure that no false or misleading advertisement is made in respect of any goods or services which contravenes the provisions of this Act or the rules or regulations made thereunder.
Nidhi Khare, Chief Commissioner of CCPA stated that according to news reports more than 10 lakh candidates apply for UPSC Civil Services Examination every year. Shankar IAS Academy’s advertisement was targeted towards a class of consumers i.e. UPSC aspirants.
“That’s why such advertisements shall contain truthful and honest representation of facts by disclosing important information in such a manner that they are clear, prominent and extremely hard to miss for consumers,” she said.
Section- 2(28) (iv) of Consumer Protection Act, 2019 talks about misleading advertisement in relation to deliberately concealing important information. Information regarding the course opted by successful candidates is important for the consumers to know so that they can make informed choice while deciding which course and coaching institute to join.
Coaching institutes bombard newspapers with ads soon after announcement of the UPSC Civil Service examination results, which feature the names and photographs of successful candidates.
The CCPA has issued notices to numerous coaching institutes for misleading advertisement wherein the CCPA observed that coaching institutes prominently use name and photographs of same successful candidate in its advertisements to create deception as if the successful candidates were full-time classroom students of coaching institutes. After examination of various coaching institutes submissions, CCPA found out that majority of successful candidates had only participated in interview guidance programs or the free-of-cost programmes offered by coaching institutes.
The CCPA observed that same successful candidates were claimed by several coaching institutes without disclosing the courses opted by such candidates and length of the course so attended to mislead prospective aspirants (consumers).