Coaching giants fined ₹15 lakh for misleading NEET and JEE success claims

New Delhi: The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) has levied fines against two prominent coaching centres, Motion Education Pvt. Ltd. and Career Line Coaching (CLC), for disseminating deceptive advertisements regarding their students' performance in competitive entrance exams.

The regulator imposed a penalty of Rs 10 lakh on Motion Education and Rs 5 lakh on the Sikar-based CLC. According to a statement released Friday by the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, the CCPA determined that the promotional materials for both organisations omitted vital details concerning the specific academic programs utilised by the successful candidates featured in their campaigns.

The rulings, authored by Chief Commissioner Nidhi Khare and Commissioner Anupam Mishra, concluded that the institutes engaged in unfair trade practices and violated consumer rights under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019.

Inaccuracies in Enrollment Claims

Motion Education’s marketing asserted a 91.2 per cent qualification rate for the NEET exam and a 51.02 per cent success rate for IIT-JEE Advanced. These figures were disseminated across social media, the institute’s website, and print media, often alongside the names and photographs of high-ranking students to promote expensive residential and classroom batches.

However, a formal investigation discovered that a significant portion of the successful students had actually participated in "I-Eklavya," a free online initiative reserved for select candidates. The CCPA noted that this distinction was never disclosed to the public. Furthermore, investigators found that some students were only enrolled in the institute after their exams were finished, yet the school claimed credit for their results without obtaining proper consent from the students or their families.

Discrepancies in Data

Career Line Coaching faced scrutiny for its claim of having "1650+ CLCians in MBBS, IIT & Others." During the proceedings, the institute provided conflicting accounts, first describing the figure as a cumulative total since 1996 and later asserting it represented 2024 results alone. The CCPA deemed the claim unsubstantiated due to these contradictions.

Additionally, the regulator found that CLC failed to disclose that several featured students were only enrolled in short-term test series rather than comprehensive coaching programs.

"Concealing whether a successful candidate attended a full-time classroom programme, an online course, a crash course, or merely a test series constitutes a misleading advertisement," the CCPA held, citing specific sections of the 2019 Act.

Regulatory Crackdown

Both institutions have been ordered to retract the non-compliant advertisements and have since filed appeals with the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC).

The penalties are part of an intensified regulatory effort targeting the coaching industry. To date, the CCPA has issued more than 60 notices and collected over Rs 1.39 crore in fines from 31 different institutes providing preparation for UPSC, banking, and medical entrance examinations.

With inputs from PTI