The Thane additional district consumer redressal forum recently pulled up Terna Dental College in Navi Mumbai for unlawfully deducting Rs 80,000 from the fee submitted by one of the applicants while refunding it.
Penalising the college for unfair trade practices, the forum asked it to pay back Rs 79,000 along with 12% interest from September 2011. It also asked the college to pay Rs 50,000 to the applicant towards mental agony along with an additional sum of Rs 20,000 (litigation cost).
The applicant, Kavita Kanojia, a resident of Kanjurmarg, passed her 12th in 2010 and also cleared the common entrance test (CET) conducted by the Association of Management of Unaided Private and Dental Colleges (AMUPDC), with 145 marks. She then too admission in Terna Dental College on September 12, 2011, and paid Rs 2,05,000 as fees.
However, a few days later, college dean Shishir Singh revoked her admission saying she had not produced her OBC caste certificate.
"I then assured him that I would produce the certificate shortly and requested him to admit me on the basis of the provisional caste certificate. He agreed on the condition that I would give an affidavit saying if I failed to produce the original certificate within 30 days, my admission would be cancelled. He also said that if I failed to submit the certificate I would have to pay the entire four years' fees," says Kavita's complaint.
Her complaint also said the college had informed her that if she cancelled her admission before September 25, 2011, only 50% of her tuition fee would be returned. She also alleged that one of the staff also told her she would have to pay Rs 8 lakh if she failed to hand over the caste certificate. Scared, Kavita decided to withdraw from the college.
On September 30, 2011, she received her caste certificate and approached the college seeking admission, but the college informed her the seat had already been filled up. It also deducted Rs 80,000 from the money she had paid as fees when she sought refund. Aggrieved, she approached the forum.
The college submitted before the forum that the money had been deducted as per an AMUPDC rule. The forum which went through the evidence held that as per the rule, only Rs 1,000 could be deducted. It hence fined the college.
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