WLC College Pays For Fleecing
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Karishma Kanuga took college to consumer court after it refused to refund fees. Court has ordered that fees be returned with 9% interest, along with compensation of Rs 50,000 for loss of a year
By Arundhati Ranade
Posted On Tuesday, July 07, 2009 at 03:10:39 AM
During classes, they (college) would show us movies and TV shows. For just that, I was travelling all the way from Koregaon Park to Prabhat Road and paying Rs 1.28 lakh!”
— Karishma Kanuga
VV Kanuga holds up the Consumer Forum order, a copy of which is with Pune Mirror
When Karishma Kanuga got admitted into a mass media course at a college affiliated to a well-known foreign university, three years ago, the 18-year-old had bright dreams of a quality education and a prospective career, thereafter.
But those dreams soon came to a grinding halt, when Karishma discovered, to her shock, that the institution she had hoped to pursue her graduate studies from was not approved by All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE).
Karishma, now 21 years old and a resident of Koregaon Park, had enrolled herself at the Wigan and Leigh College (WLC) India Pune centre in September of 2006, for a mass media degree.
She was compelled to abandon the course after few months, after realising there were no regular classes or lectures taking place.
While she lost an entire year of her academic career, it was only when the college denied to refund her fees that she and her parents decided to go to the Consumer Forum.
And finally, after fighting in court for close to two years, Karishma and her parents have been given the justice they were due.
Last week, the Forum’s order came through, which has directed the institute to refund the fees, which is Rs 1.28 lakh, along with an 9 per cent interest, as well as compensation of Rs 50,000 as Karishma has lost an academic year.
The institute has to make the payments within two months from the date of receiving the order.
Almost 41 working days passed by without a single regular class or lecture.
We had paid a huge sum of Rs 1,28,258 for the course and for this? Furthermore, they even held a semester exam, the results of which were never announced.”
Karishma, who is now studying Mass Media in Mumbai, said, “During classes, they (college) would show us movies and TV shows.
For just that, I was traveling all the way from Koregaon Park to Prabhat Road and paying Rs 1.28 lakh!” Even when she notified the college director of what was happening, nothing changed.
GLOBALLY RECOGNIZED, LOCALLY OBSCURE
Kanuga said, “Later, we found out that the college was not yet recognized by AICTE. That simply means they are running an illegal course.
Then, we decided to take her off the course and pursue the matter, as we had been cheated.” Karishma and her parents brought the matter to the Consumer Forum and fought the case for almost a year and a half.
The complaint against WLC was lodged with the Pune District Consumer Dispute Redressal Forum in January, 2008.
“We had claimed compensation of Rs 5 lakh, as my daughter lost an important year because of the college,” said Kanuga.
“I approached AICTE, while also filing an RTI application with the State Directorate of Higher Education. However, I did not get any reply from them.”
Kanuga’s RTI application sought to know “whether AICTE recognition is mandatory to run a course like mass media”.
PARENTS, STUDENTS, BEWARE!
Consumer activist and president of Grahak Hitwardhini, Sudhakar Velankar was representing the Kanuga case.
Velankar said, “According to the AICTE notification dated May 16, 2005, it’s a criminal offense if a foreign institution is running a course in India without AICTE approval.”
Legal expert Adv D G Sant, who is also secretary of Grahak Hitwardini, said, “The case of Karishma Kanuga is an eye-opener for students and parents everywhere.
WLC had already received a notice from AICTE, earlier. Now, it is up to the state government to take action against such institutions.
Unfortunately, the state is not doing anything. Institutions without proper recognition are simply fleecing students of their money. Parents and students should come forward to fight against such institutions.”
NO ORDER RECEIVED YET: WLC
When Pune Mirror contacted WLC India regarding the matter, the Pune campus director diverted us to the Delhi office.
Head of marketing WLC India, Sunil Gideon said, “We have not received the order yet. As a policy, we do not refund fees once the course starts and the student start attending classes.
In this case, Ms Kanuga attended the classes for several months before she decided to leave. Also, we are not running any illegal courses.”
