New Delhi, Feb 22 : The government on Saturday said it has successfully secured refunds worth Rs 1.56 crore for over 600 aspirants and students from coaching centres who filed grievances through the National Consumer Helpline (NCH).
These students, enrolled in coaching centres for civil services, engineering course and other programmes, were previously denied rightful refunds despite following the terms and conditions set forth by the coaching institutes, said the Department of Consumer Affairs (DoCA).
The Department directed coaching centres to adopt a student-focused approach and put an end to the unfair practice of denying refund claims from aspirants and students.
The relief was made possible through grievances filed by the students via the NCH, which facilitated a streamlined process for dispute resolution.
“The swift action by the Department has helped students receive compensation for unfulfilled services, late classes, or cancelled courses, ensuring they do not bear the financial burden of unfair business practices,” said the Ministry of Consumer Affairs in a statement.
The Department has also made it clear that the unjust practice of denying legitimate refund claims will no longer be tolerated, urging educational institutions to uphold consumer rights.
“The Department of Consumer Affairs, through its proactive efforts, has also committed to strengthening the complaint redressal mechanism and educating students on their consumer rights, empowering them to take action in case of unfair treatment,” the ministry noted.
Meanwhile, the NCH has emerged as the key point of redressal of consumer grievances, functioning in 17 languages along with help of an AI-based speech recognition system.
The number of calls received by NCH has grown more than 10-fold — from 12,553 in December 2015 to 1,55,138 in December 2024.
Similarly, the average number of complaints registered per month has surged from 37,062 in 2017 to 1,12,468 in 2024, , the Parliament was informed earlier this month.
The helpline is available in 17 languages, including Hindi, English, Kashmiri, Punjabi, Nepali, Gujarati, Marathi, Kannada, Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Maithili, Santhali, Bengali, Odia, Assamese and Manipuri, allowing consumers from all regions to register their grievances via the toll-free number 1915. (IANS)