A consumer disputes redress forum has directed FIITJEE, a coaching institute for IIT-JEE and NEET entrance exams, to pay a complainant a sum of Rs 70,000 as compensation for deficiency in services, reports The Hindu.

Gautam Saha, the complainant, had alleged that he had enrolled his son at the institute after paying over Rs 1.87 lakh for a two-year course. However, due to inadequate facilities and humiliation faced by his son in the class, he had to discontinue the course.

“We hold that the opposite party [FIITJEE] has committed unfair trade practice by collecting fees for two years in one go. Accordingly, we partly allow the complaint and direct (FIITJEE) to refund the ten months fees taken by them from the complainant….as the complainant left the institute after attending classes for more than a year,” the consumer panel said, directing the institute to refund a part of the fee submitted.

The panel also quoted a previous judgment passed by the National Consumer Disputes Redress Commission (NCDRC) saying that, "An educational institution can only charge a prescribed fee for one semester or year. If an institution feels that any particular student may leave midstream [midway] then, at the highest, it may require that student to give a bond or bank guarantee.”