The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) has taken action against three well-known institutes of the country. CCPA has imposed a fine of lakhs on all three IAS coaching institutes and has also asked them not to mislead in future. All three IAS coaching institutes are accused of trying to lure students for admission through misleading ads. For this reason, CCPA has imposed a huge fine of Rs 15 lakh on these three.

They were doing fraud regarding success rate

According to the information received, the CCPA found that some coaching institutes were giving misleading advertisements about their success rate regarding the results of UPSC Civil Services Examination 2022 and 2023. After this, the CCPA investigated and found that three coaching institutes were doing this, after which a total fine of Rs 15 lakh has been imposed on them.

These institutions were fined

An official statement said that Vajirao & Reddy Institute and StudyIQ IAS have been fined Rs 7 lakh each for publishing misleading ads regarding the results of UPSC civil services examinations 2022 and 2023, while Edge IAS has been fined Rs 1,00,000.

intentionally hiding things

The CCPA, led by Chief Commissioner Nidhi Khare, who is heading the probe, found that the institutes deliberately concealed the fact that most of their successful candidates had enrolled only for interview guidance programmes, thereby creating a misleading impression about the effectiveness of their other syllabi. It further said that Vajirao & Reddy Institute claimed "617 selections out of 933" in the 2022 exam, while StudyIQ IAS advertised "120+ selections" in 2023. The probe revealed that most of the successful candidates in both the institutes had taken only interview preparation courses.

The institute could not even give the fee receipt

During the investigation, StudyIQ IAS was also unable to justify its "Success Confirmed Offer" and "Selection Confirmed Offer" promotions, and also did not provide enrollment forms and fee receipts for its alleged successful candidates. The institute advertised more than 60 courses, but did not disclose that its interview guidance program, which was availed by most of the successful candidates, was not included in the ad. The consumer protection body has issued 45 notices to various coaching institutes for misleading ads and has so far collected a total fine of Rs 71.6 lakh from 22 institutes.