IT institute pays for false job promise

In what could be a deterrent for professional institutes that lure students with false assurances of jobs, a consumer court has penalised a computer institute here for failing to provide employment to three of its candidates.

Holding that alluring students through misleading advertisements amounted to a "unfair trade practice", the Delhi State Consumer Commission directed CMS Computer Institute (CMSCI) to pay Rs 33,000 each to three students for failing to fulfil the promise of getting them jobs.

"This case should be an eye-opener and a deterrent for those institutes and any and every kind of training imparting centres who dole out misleading and false advertisements as to the utility of their training with an assurance or guarantee to arrange the job also," said Justice JD Kapoor, President of the Commission.

Upholding the verdict of a District Forum that held CMSCI guilty of unfair trade practices, the Commisssion said, "Such an assurance falls within the misleading, false and luring advertisement if the promise is not fulfilled."

The Commission rejected the appeal of CMSCI, which pleaded irregularity and inconsistency on the part of students, saying in such a case, it should not have provided the certificate of completion of the course to them.

Three students — Gaurav Sharma, Sandeep Singh and Ajay Goel — were admitted to CMSCI's Freedom Jumbo Course that had a duration of eight months and a fee of Rs 30,000 with a promise that jobs would be arranged for them on the successful completion of the course.

The three students, who were not given jobs by the institute, had contended that it was bound to provide them placement on completion of the course as promised in the advertisement.

Agreeing with the contention, the Commission said, "Once CMSCI had issued certificate of successful completion of the course, students had not only expectation of getting a job immediately but also the fulfilment of the promise of a job."

The students were lured by a newspaper advertisement that said, "At CMS you are a winner anyway for you have a job on joining the programme or immediately after the programme."