CCPA imposes ₹7L penalty over misleading UPSC success claims

The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) has imposed a penalty of ₹7 lakh on Vajiram & Ravi IAS Study Centre LLP for allegedly misleading students through advertisements that highlighted the institute's association with successful UPSC Civil Services Examination (CSE) candidates while concealing key information about the nature of courses attended by them.

In an order issued on May 30, the CCPA found that the coaching institute prominently featured the names, photographs and achievements of UPSC CSE 2023 rank holders on its website, creating the impression that they were products of its comprehensive coaching programmes. However, the authority observed that a significant number of these candidates had only participated in the institute's free Interview Guidance Programme (IGP).

According to the CCPA, seven of the eight candidates cited in the institute's claim that "8 Rank Holders in the Top 10 are from Vajiram & Ravi" had enrolled only in the Interview Guidance Programme. Similarly, 29 of the 37 candidates highlighted in its claim of having "37 Rank Holders in the Top 50" had also attended only the free interview guidance initiative.

The authority further questioned the institute's claim that more than 30% of UPSC officers selected every year are students of Vajiram & Ravi. It noted that a large majority of the successful candidates counted under this claim had only enrolled in the Interview Guidance Programme. 

The CCPA observed that the Interview Guidance Programme begins only after candidates have independently cleared the Preliminary and Mains stages of the UPSC examination. By failing to disclose this distinction and by featuring these candidates alongside advertisements for paid coaching programmes, the institute created what the regulator described as a misleading impression regarding its contribution to their success.

The authority held that the omission of information about the specific courses attended by successful candidates—including whether they enrolled in full-length classroom programmes, optional subject coaching, test series or only the Interview Guidance Programme—amounted to deliberate concealment of material information.

The advertisements were found to be in violation of provisions of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019, including those relating to misleading advertisements and consumers' right to be informed before making purchasing decisions.

The action forms part of the regulator's crackdown on misleading advertisements in the coaching sector. 

According to the CCPA, it has issued more than 60 notices to coaching institutes and imposed penalties exceeding ₹1.46 crore in cases involving advertisements related to UPSC, IIT-JEE, NEET, RBI and other competitive examinations.