HON'BLE MEMBER : SMT. JYOTI IYER

1. This complaint has been filed by the Complainant against the Opponent alleging deficiency of service and holding them guilty of unfair trade practice thereby for failing to refund the fees of Rs.29,000/- paid by the Complainant towards six months PG diploma course in A&HM which did not commence at all and for directions to the Opponent Company to refund his entire fees of Rs. 29.000/- paid towards the said course alongwith bank interest of Rs.1,740/-, to pay Rs. 20,000/- for mental agony and harassment and Rs.5,000/- towards cost of litigation of the Complainant.

2. The facts of the case in a nutshell are as follows:-

Complainant contends that he is a combatant of Indian Air Force and posted with the Air Force Station at Kanheri Hills, Yeour, Thane(West). It is the case of the Complainant that he registered at the Air Hostess Academy Thane(W) on 13/10/2008 for six months PG Diploma course in A & HM by paying registration fees of Rs 5,000/- on the even date and further paid the balance of Rs.24,000/- on 20/10/2008 towards entire fees for the said course. The said institute kept on assuring the Complainant that the course will commence soon and is delayed a little due to shortage of students. The Complainant further contends that after about 3 months i.e on 20/01/2009 the Officials of the institute

... 2 ... (Com. no.768/2009)

gave a call to the Complainant to visit them and informed the Complainant about their inability of starting 6 months PG diploma course in A & HM and hence offered the Complainant to either join the next batch probably starting in April or May 2009 or to take back the fees paid by the Complainant towards the said course. The Complainant states that on the request of the Opponent Company he submitted an application mentioning that the Complainant was willing to except the refund of fees paid towards the said course. The Complainant avers that on dt.27/03/2009 the said institute gave the Complainant the cheque of Rs.24,000/- and assured that the balance of Rs.5,000/- will be furnished to the Complainant within 10 days. Pursuant to deposit of the said cheque of Rs. 24,000/- of Opponent Company the Complainant on 04/04/2009 learnt that the said cheque had bounced due to insufficient funds in the bank account of the Opponent. Further the Complainant states that the A & HM institute in the first week of July 2009 shifted from Thane(W) and got merged with its AHA Dadar (W) branch. Despite several attempts made by the Complainant for refund of the fees paid by him towards the said course till date no refund is given to the Complainant hence the Complainant was constrained to file this present complaint before us for the aforementioned reliefs.

3. Pursuant to the issuance of the notice, from the record it appears that, the Opponent Company though duly served on 16/01/2010 neither appeared nor filed its W/S hence we were constrained to pass an ex-parte order against the Opponent at the time of hearing the matter on 28/09/2010.

4. We have heard the Complainant at length so also perused the material filed on record by the Complainant in support of his above referred contentions. Our observations, findings and reasons are as follows:-

5. The Complainant alongwith a list filed the following documents which are as follows:

1.Detail application of the complaint address to Hon'ble President of Thane Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum.

2.Xerox copy of fees receipt of amount Rs.5,000/- dtd.13^th Oct 08 in the name of Complainant issued by the Opponent Company.

3.Xerox copy of fees receipt of amount Rs.24,000/- dtd. 20^th Oct 08 in the name of Complainant issued by the Opponent Company.

4.Xerox copy of Bank receipt of cheque deposition at ICICI Bank, Vartak Nagar, Thane(west) of Rs. 24,000/- dtd. 30^th Mar 09

5.Xerox copy of ICICI Bank Statement of the Complainant mentioning the bounce of cheque of Rs.24,000/- on 4^th April 09 issued by the Opponent.

... 3 ... (Com. no.768/2009)

6. On perusal of above referred documents at Exhibit no.3. at Sr.no.2 and 3 which itself clearly reflects that the Complainant has paid Rs. 5000/- and 24,000/- to the Opponent on 13/10/2008 and 20/10/2008 respectively. It is also pertinent to note that the said receipt also indicates that Complainant has paid money towards the six months PG diploma A & HM course. The session indicated is between 2008-2009, further the address of the Opponent AHA indicated is of Maziwada, Thane(W). It is also reflected from the document at Sr. No. 4 referred above that the Complainant has deposited the said cheque of Rs.24,000/- on 30/03/2009 towards part refund of fees with his banker ICICI as seen in the pay-in-slip. The above referred document at Sr. no. 5 is the bank statement of ICICI standing in the name of the Complainant clearly reflecting that AHA Air Hostess AC 586791 was returned due to insufficient funds. From the overall appreciation of the facts and circumstances of this case and the cogent documentary evidence produced on record by the Complainant in the support of his contentions. We find substantial force and truth in the contentions raised by the Complainant further in our view the Opponent Company we presume has no case at all hence it has abstained from appearing before us nor file its W/S hence the contentions of the Complainant are uncontroverted . In view of the above discussion we are of well considered view that firstly to not commence the said course within a reasonable period after the payment of requisite fees by the Complainant would itself amounts to deficiency in service. Secondly failing to honour the cheque issued by the Opponent Company towards part refund of fees further not to refund the entire amount paid towards fees till date is another deficiency on the part of the Opponent Company and would amount to unfair trade practice by the Opponent Company. Bearing in mind the overall deficiencies by the Opponent Company there is not an iota of doubt in our minds that the Complainant must have gone through immense mental agony and torture due to aforementioned conduct of the Opponent Company and was so much so constrained that he had to knock the doors of the Hon'ble Forum for redressal of his grievances. We feel the need to compensate the Complainant to achieve the ends of justice. Hence the following order.

ORDER

1.Opponent is directed to pay Principal amount of Rs.29,000/- (Rs. Twenty Nine Thousand Only) paid towards fees of the said course plus bank interest to the tune of Rs.1,740/-(Rs.One Thousand Seven Hundred Fourty Only) i.e the sum total Rs.30,740/- (Rs. Thirty Thousand Seven Fourty Only) to the Complainant.

... 4 ... (Com. no.768/2009)

2.Opponent is directed to pay Rs.5,000/-(Rs. Five Thousand Only) to the Complainant towards mental agony, torture etc.

3.The Opponent is directed to pay Rs.2,000/- (Rs. Two Thousand Only) to the Complainant towards cost of litigation.

4.The Opponent is directed to comply with this order within 4 weeks of the receipt of the copy hereof.

5.Certified copy of this order is to be sent to all the parties concerned free of cost.

THANE

DATE : 07/10/2010

(JYOTI IYER) (M.G.RAHATGAONKAR)

MEMBER PRESIDENT