Narayana Educational Society fined Rs 4,000 for agonising parent

HYDERABAD: The Telangana Consumer Court directed the Narayana Educational Society to pay an amount of Rs 3,000 as compensation for the mental agony caused to a person who had sought the cancellation of admission of his ward into the college. The society was also asked to pay Rs 1,000 towards the cost of litigation.

K Sreedhar Reddy had approached the Narayana Junior College at Madhapur for the admission of his son into the MPC stream. The complainant claimed that the college had instructed him to pay an amount of Rs 10, 150 as the booking amount for admission and an extra Rs 350 for the application cost. He further said that the college had informed the fee structure to be Rs 2,00,00, which includes hostel accommodation and an additional amount of Rs 18,000 as miscellaneous charges.

The complainant exclaimed that the college, at the time of payment, had surprisingly hiked the fee to Rs 2,25,000 and the miscellaneous charges to Rs 22,000. He further said that he had withdrawn the application owing to the increase in fees and demanded a refund of the advance booking amount (Rs 10, 150) as promised by the college earlier.

Narayana Educational Society, defending itself, said that the amount paid by the complainant was refunded through a demand draft (DD) and the same was sent to the complainant through registered post while providing evidence for the same. They further sought the dismissal of the case as the said amount was repaid to the complainant.

The court, hearing both sides, said that the college though refunded the amount, it was not repaid after the admission was cancelled nor after being served with a legal notice by the complainant. Hence, the court said that the college was guilty of unfair trade practices and found the complainant liable for compensation.