• The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) has fined 19 coaching institutes Rs 61.60 lakh for misleading ads.
• The CCPA also issued notices to 45 other coaching centres for similar violations.
• The penalties were issued following the "Guidelines for Prevention of Misleading Advertisement in Coaching Sector, 2024".
• The National Consumer Helpline (NCH) provides a platform for consumers to register grievances in 17 languages.

In a significant move to safeguard consumer rights, the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) has imposed penalties totalling Rs 61.60 lakh on 19 coaching institutes for misleading advertisements. This information was disclosed to the Parliament on Tuesday. In addition to the penalties, the CCPA has also issued notices to 45 other coaching centres for similar violations.

The CCPA, established under Section 10 of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019, is a regulatory body that oversees matters related to the violation of consumer rights, unfair trade practices, and false or misleading advertisements. Its mandate is to promote, protect, and enforce the rights of consumers as a class.

The penalties and notices were issued following the Guidelines for Prevention of Misleading Advertisement in Coaching Sector, 2024 that the CCPA had released on November 13, 2024. These guidelines were designed to prevent coaching centres from making false or misleading claims in their advertisements to promote the sale of their services and to engage in deceptive or unfair practices.

CCPA's Role in Consumer Protection

The guidelines also stipulate that important information such as the name, rank, and course details must be disclosed alongside the student's photo in advertisements and fair contracts. The National Consumer Helpline (NCH), administered by the Department of Consumer Affairs, has emerged as a single point of access for consumers across the country for their grievance redressal at a pre-litigation stage.

Consumers can register their grievances in 17 languages through a toll-free number 1915. These grievances can be registered on the Integrated Grievance Redressal Mechanism (INGRAM), an omni-channel IT-enabled central portal, through various channels such as WhatsApp, SMS, mail, NCH app, web portal, and Umang app.

The NCH has partnered with 1,004 companies as part of the 'Convergence' programme. These companies directly respond to these grievances according to their redressal process and provide feedback to the complainant on the portal. Complaints against companies who have not partnered with the NCH are forwarded to the company's email ID for redressal.

Government's Efforts to Empower Consumers

The Department of Consumer Affairs, through the NCH, has successfully intervened at a pre-litigation stage to ensure justice for students and aspirants who enrolled for the UPSC Civil Services, IIT, and other entrance examinations. Following numerous complaints registered in the NCH regarding unfair practices by various coaching centres, especially not refunding the enrolment fees of the students, the NCH initiated a drive to resolve these grievances on a mission mode to facilitate a total refund of Rs 1.15 crore to affected students.

The Department of Consumer Affairs is continuously working for consumer protection and empowerment of consumers by the enactment of progressive legislations. With a view to modernising the framework governing consumer protection in the new era of globalisation, technologies, e-commerce markets etc., the Consumer Protection Act, 1986, was repealed and the Consumer Protection Act, 2019, was enacted.

In the past, the CCPA has taken similar actions against other sectors as well. For instance, in October 2024, the CCPA issued a show cause notice to Ola Electric following over 10,000 consumer complaints against the company in the last one year. The major grounds for issuing the notice were alleged violation of consumer rights, deficiencies in services, misleading claims, and unfair trade practices.