CCPA Fines Vajiram & Ravi IAS Study Centre ₹7 Lakh for Misleading UPSC Success Claims
Consumer watchdog says coaching institute concealed key information about courses attended by successful UPSC candidates
The CCPA observed that the Interview Guidance Programme begins only after candidates independently clear both the preliminary and mains stages of the UPSC examination, stages in which the institute had made no academic contribution.
NEW DELHI: The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) has imposed a penalty of ₹7 lakh on Vajiram & Ravi IAS Study Centre LLP for publishing misleading advertisements related to UPSC Civil Services Examination results and concealing material information about the nature of courses attended by successful candidates.
The consumer watchdog said the coaching institute prominently advertised the names, photographs and achievements of successful candidates from the UPSC Civil Services Examination (CSE) 2023 while failing to disclose the specific programmes attended by those candidates, thereby creating a misleading impression among prospective students.
According to the CCPA, Vajiram & Ravi had claimed on its website that “8 Rank Holders in the Top 10 are from Vajiram & Ravi”, “37 Rank Holders in the Top 50 are from Vajiram & Ravi”, and that more than 30 percent of officers selected through the UPSC Civil Services Examination every year were its students.
However, the authority’s investigation found that seven of the eight top-10 rank holders and 29 of the 37 candidates featured among the top 50 had enrolled only in the institute’s free Interview Guidance Programme rather than its comprehensive coaching courses. The findings also revealed that a majority of candidates cited in the institute’s annual success claims had participated only in the interview guidance programme during recent years.
The CCPA observed that the Interview Guidance Programme begins only after candidates independently clear both the preliminary and mains stages of the UPSC examination, stages in which the institute had made no academic contribution. By featuring such candidates in advertisements for its full-length coaching programmes without adequate disclosure, the institute created a misleading impression that these candidates were products of its comprehensive coaching system.
The authority said the non-disclosure of whether successful candidates attended full-time classroom programmes, optional subject coaching, test series or only short-duration interview guidance programmes deprived consumers of critical information needed to make informed choices.
The CCPA held that the advertisements amounted to “misleading advertisements” under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019, citing deliberate concealment of material information and violation of consumers’ right to be informed.
The order was passed by the authority headed by Chief Commissioner Nidhi Khare and Commissioner Anupam Mishra. The action forms part of a broader crackdown on misleading advertisements and unfair trade practices in the coaching sector.
According to the CCPA, more than 60 notices have been issued to coaching institutes across the country for misleading promotional practices. The authority has so far imposed penalties amounting to over ₹1.46 crore on institutes offering coaching for examinations including UPSC CSE, IIT-JEE, NEET, RBI and other competitive examinations.
The regulator reiterated that consumers have a right to accurate and transparent information before selecting coaching services and said educational institutions must ensure that their advertising claims are truthful, verifiable and complete.
