Judgment:
(The Respondent is the complainant filed a complaint before the District Forum against the opposite parties praying certain relief. The District Forum allowed the complaint. Against the said order, the appellants / opposite parties filed this appeal praying to setaside the order of the District Forum in CC.No.121/2009, dated 01.03.2011.
This appeal coming before us for hearing finally on 14.02.2014, upon hearing the arguments on either side, perusing the documents, lower court records, and the order passed by the District Forum, this commission made the following order.)
A.K. Annamalai, Judicial Member
1. The opposite parties are the appellants.
2. The complainant joined the pinnacle course with the 2nd opposite party institution for the purpose of IIT course by paying Rs.98,175/- as fees on 15.4.2008 and discontinued the same on 31.5.2008 due to his illness and not in a position to continue the course because of home sick and depression of mental condition and thereby he had requested the 2nd opposite party to refund the fees already paid which was not heeded by the opposite parties and thereby after giving a legal notice the complainant filed a consumer complaint claiming for the refund of amount and compensation and costs.
3. The opposite parties contended that since the institution being a self finance one and if the student admitted for the specialized course permitted to leave the course in the middle by repaying the fees already paid they may not be in a position to run the institution and in the middle of the course the seat become vacant due to discontinuation of the student could not be filled up or replaced with any other student by spending huge amount towards course , students materials etc and as per the condition of agreement during the admission the fees once paid is not refundable and thereby there is no deficiency of service on their part.
4. The District Forum accepting the contention of the complainant allowed the complaint by directing the opposite parties to repay a sum of Rs.93,812/- after deducting the proportionate fees for the period already under gone by the complainant and to pay Rs.15,000/- as compensation and Rs.5000/- as costs.
5. The appellants agitating the impugned order contended that the District forum erroneously allowed the complaint without taking into consideration of the terms and conditions of the agreement and course already undergone by the complainant and thereby the appeal is to be allowed.
6. We have heard both sides contentions, arguments in this regard and carefully gone through the materials including the documents relied upon by either side. It is not in dispute that the complainant had joined the intensive course for the purpose of joining IIT course institutions by paying Rs.98,175/- as fees for the course and undergone course from 28.4.2008 to 31.5.2008 nearly for one month and 2 days only and discontinued the same due to his mental disturbance and ill-health and thereby notice was given to the opposite parties and the opposite parties contended as per Ex.B2 Enrolment form as per the terms of one of the conditions that if the students discontinued they are not entitled for any refund of fee. Only on the ground alone, the appellants have failed to refund the fee, they have not produced any other supporting materials to show that the condition is having any binding force by the complainant and on perusal of Ex.B2 for the purpose of admission with printed details of the admission form containing various clauses in which the complainant signed the same. There is no endorsement or attestation by the opposite parties in this document. Further as pointed out by the District forum as per the various judicial precedents and cases decided by this commission in the earlier matters regarding the refund of course fees by such educational institution, it is clear that the educational institutions are bound to refund the fees already collected towards admission or course fee if the student discontinued the course either at the beginning or in the middle of the course due to various reasons subject to the rules and regulations of the Government orders in this regard and in this case also the District Forum after elaborating various cases and the reasons for allowing the complaint observing that the complainant had undergone only one month and two days of the course and the proportionate amount of Rs.4363.32 towards course fees from the total amount of Rs.98,175/- and directed the opposite parties to refund the balance of Rs.93,812/-. The opposite parties even though contended that they are not bound to repay the fees in view of the condition under Ex.B2, but this contention cannot held good in view of the reasons and observations made by the District Forum based on the earlier proceedings and case laws and thereby we are of the view that this finding of the District Forum needs no interference. As far as the compensation is concerned the District Forum awarded a sum of Rs.15,000/- as compensation and Rs.5000/- as costs even though which may not be considered as on the higher side , by considering the facts and circumstances of the case as already the District Forum discussed and directed to deduct the course fee proportionately the opposite parties being the self finance institution conducting course for the benefit of students to improve their knowledge, skill for the purpose of joining IIT institution we are inclined to reduce to compensation and costs to the extent of 50% of the total amount of Rs.20,000/- and thereby to that extent this appeal is allowed in part and accordingly.
In the result, the appeal is allowed in part by modifying the order of the District Forum as follows:
1. The order of the District Forum directing the opposite parties to pay a sum of Rs.15,000/- as compensation and to pay Rs.5000/- as costs is modified and the opposite parties are directed to pay only Rs.10,000/- in all towards compensation for mental agony and costs.
No order as to costs in this appeal.