Ranchi: Central Consumer Protection Authority has imposed a penalty of Rs 11 lakh on Vision IAS coaching institute for publishing misleading advertisements. Action was taken after scrutiny of claims made on institute’s website, with CCPA chairperson Nidhi Khare ordering the penalty. With this action, CCPA has so far imposed fines amounting to Rs 1.09 crore on 28 coaching institutes for misleading students through false claims.
Vision IAS, operated by Ajay Vision Education Pvt Limited, had published advertisements on its website claiming exceptional results in UPSC Civil Services Examination 2022 and 2023. Institute claimed that seven candidates in top 10 and 79 candidates in top 100 of 2023 were its students. It also claimed that 39 candidates in top 50 of UPSC 2022 were associated with the institute.
CCPA investigation found these claims to be misleading. Probe revealed that website highlighted GS Foundation Batch taken by successful candidate Shubham Kumar, while details of courses taken by other successful candidates were deliberately withheld. This created an impression that most selected candidates were classroom students of GS Foundation Batch, which was not true. Foundation course was prominently promoted on website, encouraging aspirants to take admission based on distorted information.
Institute had claimed that 119 candidates were successful in UPSC 2022 and 2023. Investigation showed that only three candidates had actually enrolled in foundation course, while remaining 116 candidates had availed services such as prelims test series, mains test series or mock interviews.
CCPA observed that concealment of facts in advertisement created a false perception that candidates succeeded at all stages of examination due to full-time study at Vision IAS. Such claims fall under misleading advertisements as defined in Section 2(28) of CCPA Act.
Authority also noted that action had been taken earlier against Vision IAS for similar violations. Since this was a repeat offence, it was treated as a serious violation and a higher penalty was imposed.