A notice of the complaint was sent to The British School, seeking their version of the case. (Representational image)The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission of Chandigarh has directed a private school of Chandigarh to pay Rs 63,000 to a Chandigarh resident after the latter alleged that teachers in school interacted with his son in Hindi and Punjabi.
Dr Kamaljeet Singh stated in his complaint that fascinated by the advertisements of The British School, Sector 44, Chandigarh, he got his son admitted in class 9 in the school and paid Rs 60,900 on March 15, 2021, including the admission fee and monthly fees for April and May, 2021.
As per complaint, classes for the session 2021-22 started virtually on April 7, 2021, and Singh’s son also joined the online classes.
He alleged that he was shocked to notice that only 8-9 students were present daily in the class, whereas the total strength was projected to be 30. He also alleged that teachers never interacted with the students and if there was any interaction, it was only in Hindi or Punjabi.
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Singh’s son stopped attending classes after April 13, 2021 and on April 14, he informed the school authorities that his son will not continue at the school and applied for a school leaving certificate as well as a refund of the fees paid.
According to Singh, the issuance of the school leaving certificate was first delayed by the authorities and on April 22, 2021, the school informed him that the application has been lost. After much struggle, the school leaving certificate was issued on April 23, 2021, but still fees was not refunded, he alleged.
Singh then filed a legal notice against the school and a formal complaint at the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission.
A notice of the complaint was sent to The British School, seeking their version of the case.
The school authorities appeared through their counsel, but failed to file vakalatnama, reply and evidence despite several opportunities. Therefore, they were proceeded ex-parte on May 25, 2022.
The district commission held that the school not replying to the legal notice, not refunding the fee, and most importantly not appearing during the proceedings of the case proves deficiency in service and their indulgence in unfair trade practice. The commission thus directed The British School to refund an amount of Rs 58,000 to the complainant, and Rs 2,000 as compensation and Rs 3,000 as costs of litigation.