Punjab

Faridkot

CC/15/169

Satpreet Kaur - Complainant(s)

Versus

The Principal Sachdev Engineering College - Opp.Party(s)

Ashu Mittal

14 Mar 2016

ORDER

    DISTRICT CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL FORUM, FARIDKOT

 

Complaint No. :        169

Date of Institution :   30.11.2015

Date of Decision :     14.03.2016

 

Satpreet Kaur d/o Balwinder Singh r/o Kothe Romana Albel Singh, Tehsil Jaitu, District Faridkot.

.....Complainant

Versus

1. The Principal, Sachdeva Engineering College for Girls, Chandigarh, Ludhiana High Way, Ghaduan, District Mohali, Punjab.

2. The Chairman, Sachdeva Engineering College for Girls, Chandigarh, Ludhiana High Way, Ghaduan, District Mohali, Punjab

                                                                                                  .........OPs

   Complaint under Section 12 of the

   Consumer Protection Act, 1986.

    

   Quorum:     Sh. Ajit Aggarwal, President,

   Smt Parampal Kaur, Member,

   Sh P Singla, Member.

   Present:       Sh Ashu Mittal, Ld Counsel for complainant,

    OPs Exparte.

    

   (Ajit Aggarwal, President)

                                                            Complainant has filed the present complaint under Section 12 of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 against OPs seeking directions to them to refund Rs 27,000/- and Rs 10,000/-, which were paid by complainant to OP-1 as new admission fee and hostel fee and for further directing them to pay Rs 50,000/- as compensation for inconvenience, harassment and mental agony besides litigation expenses of Rs 15,000/-.

     2                                                    Briefly stated, the case of the complainant is that on 7.08.2014, complainant got admission in the college of Ops for studying B.Com and paid Rs 27,000/-as new admission fee and Rs.10,000/-as hostel charges, but after getting admission, it was found that girls hostel of OPs was not safe as it was adjoining to the boys hostel and moreover, at the time of admission, OPs promised that playground would be provided and judo game would also start, but all the promises of OPs were false as there was no playground and even safety of girls hostel was also ignored and due to these reasons, complainant was compelled to leave the hostel in the first week of September 2014 after giving due intimation to college. OPs allowed complainant to leave the college and also promised to hand over her original certificates of 10^th, +2 and migration certificate alongwith refund of fee, but despite six visits of complainant and her father, OPs neither refunded her fee nor returned her original certificates. Original certificates are required for getting admission in any other institution, but as these are in the possession of OPs, which has caused great mental tension, harassment and financial loss to complainant. Despite repeated requests and visits made by complainant and her father, OPs have failed to return her original certificates alongwith refund of fee. Complainant also issued legal notice dt 10.09.2015 to OPs, but all in vain. This act of OPs has caused great harassment and mental tension to complainant, which amounts to deficiency in service and unfair trade practice. Complainant has prayed for accepting the complaint and for seeking directions to OPs to pay Rs 50,000/- as compensation for inconvenience, harassment and mental agony besides Rs 10,000/- as cost of litigation besides main relief. Hence, the complaint.

     3                                              The Counsel for complainant was heard with regard to admission of the complaint and vide order dated 3.12.2015, complaint was admitted and notice was ordered to be issued to the opposite party.

   4                                                    On receipt of the notice issued by this Forum, OPs filed reply taking preliminary objections that being not maintainable, complaint is liable to be dismissed and under Section 26 of Consumer Protection Act, this complaint is a gross abuse of process of law and it is based on false, frivolous and vague allegations. From the perusal of complaint, it is clear that complainant got admission, paid fees, attended classes at the Sachdeva Engineering College for Girls, Ghaduan at District Mohali and therefore, this Forum has no territorial jurisdiction to hear and try the present complaint. Moreover, complainant is not the consumer of Ops and she is stopped by her own act and conduct to file the present complaint as she has not come to the Forum with clean hands and has concealed the material facts from this Forum that she has taken admission in the college of Ops after going through the prospectus containing detailed terms and conditions and complete detail about college of OPs and as per rules and regulations, complainant is not entitled to refund. There is no deficiency in service on the part of OPs and they are not liable to make any refund or compensation. No cause of action arises against OPs and complaint is filed with malafide intention to harass the OPs. Moreover, it involves complicated questions of law and facts, which require elaborate evidence, which only civil court is competent to decide and complaint cannot be decided in summary manner. However, on merits OPs have denied all the allegations levelled by complainant being wrong and incorrect and asserted that complainant took admission in B.Com of the college and attended her classes and hostel till November 2014 and classes commenced from August 2014. It is denied that hostel of girls is adjoining to boys hostel and it is also denied that girls hostel is unsafe as there is a complete boundary wall around the college and girls hostel and for the safety of girls, there are six security men for day time and eight security men for night besides two gun armed security men employed by college for their safety. It is denied that Ops ever promised complainant that game of Judo would start in the college. It is asserted that as per University Norms and after the inspection of play grounds, building, hostel and other necessary facilities, the Punjabi University, Patiala has granted sanction to the college to run the classes and safety of girls is of prior importance for the girls. It is averred that complainant never informed OPs about leaving the college and thus questions of handing over the original certificates does not arise at all. No request for refund of fee or for return of original certificates was ever made by complainant to OPs. It is further averred that college is still ready and willing to hand over the certificates to the complainant or her parents/guardians, who are at liberty to collect the certificates from college any time and college feels relieved of the unnecessary responsibility put on by the complainant. It is reiterated that there is no deficiency in service on the part of answering OPs and all the other allegations and allegation with regard to relief sought too were refuted with a prayer that complaint may be dismissed with costs against the answering opposite parties.

   5                                           On receipt of notice, Sh Inderjit Singh Luthra appeared on behalf of Ops to defend the case, but after availing many opportunities for filing reply to application filed by complainant, he neither filed reply nor appeared in the forum and then vide order dt 4.03.2016 Ops were proceeded against exparte.                          

   6                                         Complainant wanted to lead exparte evidence to prove her respective pleadings and proper opportunity was given to her.  The complainant tendered in evidence her affidavit Ex.C-1 and documents Ex C-2 to C-6 and then, closed the evidence.

   7                                                   Ld Counsel for complainant has vehemently argued that complainant got admission in the college of OPs for studying B.Com on 7.08.2014 and paid Rs 27,000/-as new admission fee and Rs10,000/-as hostel charges, but after getting admission in the college, complainant found that hostel of Ops is not safe for girls as its wall was adjoining with boys hostel. Moreover, at the time of admission, OPs promised to start judo game and for providing playground to students, but after admission, promises of OPs found to be false as no playgrounds were provided for the girl students and even safety of girls was also at  stake and under compelling circumstances, complainant had to leave the college in the first week of September, 2014. Complainant gave necessary information to college regarding leaving the college and OPs allowed her to leave the college and promised to hand over the original certificates of 10^th, 10+2 and migration certificate alongwith fee received by them at the time of admission of complainant in the college, but despite repeated visits and requests made by complainant and her father, OPs have neither refunded the fee of complainant nor returned her original certificates to her. Complainant has also served legal notice dt 10.09.2015 to Ops, but all in vain. All this amounts to deficiency in service and trade mal practice and has caused great harassment to complainant and has wasted her precious time. Complainant has stressed on affidavit ExC-1 wherein he has reiterated all the pleadings taken in complaint. Legal notice Ex C-2 also reveals the grievance of complainant.

   8                              On notice, OPs appeared in this Forum and filed their written reply. Later on neither Ops themselves nor their counsel appeared in this Forum and they were proceeded against Ex-parte vide order dt 4.03.2016. So, written reply filed by Ops is considered as part of their arguments.          

   9                                To controvert the allegations levelled by complainant, ld counsel for OPs argued that complainant took admission in their college and attended classes and hostel till November 2014 for the academic year 2014-15. OPs have repelled the allegations of complainant by stating that boys hostel is not adjoined to the girls hostel and submitted that girls hostel is completely safe and there is a complete boundary wall around the college and girls hostel and for the safety and security of girls, there are six security men for day time and eight security men for night besides two gun armed security men employed by college for their safety at girls hostel. Counsel for OPs further submitted that no promise was ever made by them to start Judo game and as per university norms and after inspection of play grounds, building, hostel and other necessary facilities, the Punjabi University, Patiala gave sanction to the college to run their classes. Security of girls is of prime importance and sufficient security is provided for safety of girl students. It is denied that complainant left the college in the first week of September, rather complainant attended the college and hostel till November, 2014. Moreover, complainant never informed or made request either oral or written to Ops regarding leaving the college and thus question of handing over of documents does not arise at all. Complainant is not entitled to refund of fee as she remained in college and hostel for long time. Neither complainant nor her father visited the office of Ops to get original certificates, rather complainant is at liberty to collect her certificates from college herself or through her father as they are willing and ready to handover the same to complainant. All the other allegations levelled by complainant are totally denied. So, complaint in hand is liable to be dismissed.

9                                    We have heard the ld counsel for parties and have keenly considered the rival contentions in the light of evidence on record and have thoroughly gone through the record on file and carefully perused the same. From the perusal of evidence produced on record and pleadings made by complainant and Ops, it is observed that Complainant has failed to prove her allegation that the hostel of Ops was not safe for girls. The OPs pleaded that there is complete boundary wall around the hostel and sufficient security persons are deputed for the security of girls’ hostel. There are sufficient play-grounds and other amenities are provided as per University norms and after inspection of building, hostel and other necessary facilities, the University granted sanction to the college to run the classes. The complainant herself left the college for her personal reasons and she is not entitled for refund of fees.

10                                            In these circumstances, we are of considered opinion that complainant is not entitled for refund of college and hostel fees paid by her. However, the Ops have no right to retain the original certificates of the complainant, deposited by her with them at the time of admission and refundable securities etc. so, the present complaint is hereby partly allowed. The OPs are ordered to release all the original certificates of complainant and refundable securities deposited by her with them to complainant. Compliance of this order be made within one month from the date of receipt of the copy of the order failing which complainant shall be entitled to initiate proceedings under Section 25 and 27 of Consumer Protection Act. Copy of the order be supplied to parties free of cost as per law. File be consigned to the record room.

Announced in open Forum:

Dated: 14.03.2016

Member                Member            President (Parampal Kaur)         (P Singla)             (Ajit Aggarwal)