IN THE CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL FORUM, ALAPPUZHA
Monday the 26st day of February, 2014
Filed on 24.01.2012
Present
- Smt. Elizabeth George (President)
- Sri. Antony Xavier (Member)
- Smt. Jasmine D (Member)
in
C.C.No. 24/2012
between
Complainants:- Opposite Parties:-
- Ullasanathan.V.S. 1. Tandem Pearson Education
S/o.V.K.Sanappan Service Pvt. Ltd.
Velikkakathu House IInd Floor, V.S.V.Building
Subrahmanyapuram East of Iron Bridge
Avalukkunnu.P.O. Alappuzha, rep. by its Director
Alappuzha
2. Amisha Ullas 2. R.Renjith
D/o V.S.Ullasanathan Academic Co_ordinatior
Velikkakathu House Tandem Pearson Education
Subramanyapuram Service Pvt. Ltd.
Avalookkunnu.P.O. IInd Floor, V.S.V.Building
Alappuzha East of Iron Bridge
Alappuzha,
O R D E R
SMT. JASMINE D. (MEMBER)
The facts of the case are as follows:
The 2nd complainant who is studying in 10th standard has an outstanding performance in both curricular and extra-curricular activities. Her father ie. the 1st complainant is an advocate and mother is a teacher. The complaint, as per the advertisement in the Malayala Manorama daily in connection with Tandem Malayala Manorama Talent Search Test 2012, the complainants have contacted the Opposite Parties and paid Rs.50/- for the said test. Opposite Parties issued a hall ticket in the name of the 2nd complainant and date of the test was fixed on 15.01.2012 and an intimation also given to the complainant to report at 9 a.m. at SD College, Alappuzha. On 15.01.2012, when the complainant reached there by about 8.30 a.m., the Opposite Parties were not able to provide sufficient facility to the candidates and some chaos took place. By the information of other parents, police came to the spot. Later, Opposite Parties arranged seats for the candidates. Thereafter at about 11.30 a.m. the Opposite Parties informed the candidates that the question paper has not yet received and they were asked to leave the place. When the candidates refused to leave the place , with the help of police, the candidates were removed from the hall. This caused much mental agony to the complainant and the 2nd complainant became feverish due to deep despair and compel to consult a doctor for alleviating the said mental agony and pain. The very next day of the said incident, the Complainant has to attend FA-4 examination and due to the above incident she was not able to score expected marks. All these are caused because of the deficiency in service and the negligence on the part of the Opposite Parties. Hence the complainant filed this complaint seeking Rs.75,000/- as compensation for mental agony, pain harassment caused to them. Also prayed to get Rs.5,000/- as the cost of the proceedings.
2. The version of the opposite parties is as follows:-
According to the opposite parties, the case is not maintainable. The talent examination is conducted with a view to encourage the students as a guidance for their future. There is no deficiency of service coming under the provision of the Consumer Protection Act. Due to the unavoidable incident, the talent test was postponed. It is true that there are some trouble and the police came to the spot and the dispute was settled amicably. Thereafter the matter was again published in the Malayala Manorama newspaper detailing that the student was not able to participate in the talent test could very well appeared again the same at Thiruvampadi Higher Secondary School and also stated that on 15.01.12 the question papers have received and distributed in time and all the inconvenience are caused to the Opposite Parties because they remitted an amount of Rs.4,300/- to the S.D.College, Alappuzha. Also arranged nearly 24 staff to conduct the examination and paid their remuneration. So that there is no deficiency in service on the part of the Opposite Parties.
3. Considering the allegations of the complainant and contention of the Opposite Parties, the Forum has raised the following issues:
- Whether the Opposite Parties committed any deficiency in service?
- Whether the Complainant is entitled to get the relief as prayed for?
4. The complainant’s evidence consists of proof affidavit and the documents A1 and A2 were marked. ExtA1 is the hall ticket issued by the Opposite Parties to the 2nd Complainant.
ExtA2 is the answer sheet issued by the Opposite Parties. The 1st complainant was examined as PW1. On the side of the opposite parties, Exts. B1 to B6 were marked. Ext.B1 is the paper publication dtd. 12.01.2012 informing about the talent test on 15.01.12 at SD College, Alappuzha.
. Ext B2 is the paper publication dtd.16.01.12 informing the examination has postponed. Ext.B3 is the paper publication dtd. 03.02.12 informing that the talent entrance test will be conducted on 05.02.12. Ext.B4 is the receipt dtd, 13.01.12 issued by the SD College to the Director Tandem for having received an amount of Rs.4300/-. Ext.B5 is the letter from IT Kerala Women’s College that 10 of their teachers were sent on 15.01.2012 . Ext.B6 is the receipt dtd. 04.02.12 issued by the Higher Secondary School, Thiruvampadi Tandem.
5. Issues 1 and 2:- On the close scrutiny of the evidence placed before us by the parties, the case of the complainant appears that the 2nd complainant being an outstanding student, was interested to write the talent test – 2012 conducted by the Opposite Parties. For this they had paid an amount of Rs.50/- as the test fee. The test was fixed on 15.01.2012 at SD College, Alappuzha and they were intimated to report at 9.00 a.m. But the same day when the Complainant reached there at about 8.30 a.m. and they waited there. By about 11.30 a.m. the Opposite Parties announced that they were not in a position to conduct the examination because the question paper has not yet received. When the candidates refused to leave the hall they were removed from the place with the help of the police.
All these activities caused much mental agony and harassment to the complainants. The 2nd complainant has to attend an FA-4 examination in the very next day. But she could not perform well in that examination and cannot score good marks as expected because of the said incident. Even though the Opposite Parties stated that due to some unavoidable reasons they cannot conduct the test on that day, the same was postponed to another day and it was published in Malayala Manorama daily. On the date of the test, complainant reached there at about 8.30 a.m. The candidates were seated in a hall and issued the answer paper and only by about 11.30 a.m. they announced that they could not conduct the examination because the question paper has not received so far. It is clear that the complainants have wait there for more than 2 ½ hours unnecessarily. Even though in the version filed by the Opposite Parties stated that they had issued the question papers in time. No documents were produced to substantiate their allegations. Also from Ext.A2 it is clear that no answers were marked in the answer sheet. So it is clear that they have not distributed any question paper. This shows negligence and that there is deficiency in service on the part of the Opposite Parties. The Forum is of the opinion that the opposite parties committed deficiency of service. Hence the complaint is to be allowed.
In the result, we hereby direct the Opposite Parties to pay an amount of Rs.3000/- as compensation for the mental agony, pain and harassment inflicted on them. Also pay an amount of Rs.1000/- (Rupees one thousand only) as the cost of the proceedings.
Dictated to the Confidential Assistant transcribed by him corrected by me and pronounced in open Forum on this the 26th day of February, 2014.
Sd/- Smt. Jasmine D (Member)
Sd/- Smt. Elizabeth George (President)
Sd/- Sri. Antony Xavier (Member)
Appendix:-
Evidence of the complainant:-
Ext. A1 - Hall Ticket
Ext.A2 - Answer sheet
Evidence of the opposite parties:-
-//True copy//-
Ext.B1 - Paper publication dtd.12.1.12
Ext.B2 - Paper publication dtd.16.1.12
Ext.B3 - Paper publication dtd.03.02.12
Ext.B4 - Receipt dtd. 13.01.12
Ext.B5 - Letter from IT Kerala Women’s College dtd.15.01.12
Ext.B6 - Receipt dtd. 04.02.12
Pg/-
By Order,
Senior Superintendent.
To
Complainant/Opposite parties/SF
Typed by : Pg/-
Compd by:
