Consumer forum asks school to compensate student

Pulling up a reputed private school here for indulging in unfair trade practice, Thane District Consumer Redressel Forum (TDCRF) has asked its principal and trustee to pay Rs 15,000 compensation to a Class VI student.
Complainant Apoorva Sanjay Apte, the mother of student Sanjana Apte studying at the school, informed the consumer forum that her daughter wanted to take admission in some other educational institution and hence she had applied for a School Leaving (SL) certificate.
The school asked the complainant to pay Rs 13,000 and get the certificate. The woman paid the amount on April 20, 2010 (at the beginning of the academic session) and got the SL certificate on April 24, 2010.

However, when she asked for the refund of Rs 13,000 claiming that it was tuition fees for the next academic year, the school refused to return the sum.
She then filed a complaint with TDCRF stating that the school had charged her Rs 13,000 extra without teaching her daughter and the money should be returned to her by the institution, along with compensation.
In their recent order, TDCRF president Umesh Jhavalikar and member N D Kadam stated that it was clear that the school had taken Rs 13,000 from the complainant which was tuition fees and issued the SL certificate within four days, indicating that they had neither given admission nor imparted any teaching to the student.

Moreover, by not returning Rs 13,000, they had indulged in unfair trade practice and kept the money for their benefit. Hence, the complainant is eligible for compensation, the forum ruled.
It directed the respondents - school principal and its trustee - against whom the order was passed ex-parte as they did not respond to forum notices - to jointly and severally return Rs 13,000 to the complainant.
It also ordered the respondents to jointly and severally pay Rs 15,000 to the complainant for legal expenses, compensation and mental suffering.