Money matters:Be doubly sure

Pushpa Girimaji

Last year, I admitted my son to a new private college for a course in engineering and paid a hefty fee. As the online advertisement said it was a residential college, I paid for the hostel too. My son applied online for the course and after he got admission, a local representative of the college visited us, gave us the prospectus and collected the fee in cash. He said that the receipt will be given by the college when my son joins. However, the college never opened and when I asked the local representative to return the money, he said he never collected it from me! I now want to go the consumer court against the college and their representative. What are my chances of winning the case?

I came across a somewhat similar case as yours recently and the order of the apex consumer court in this case should answer your question. Here, the complainant’s case was that he got his minor son, Vikram Singh, admitted in the BR Khokar Defence Academy and paid Rs 54,000 towards coaching and hostel fee. However, on August 28, 2011, the hostel was vacated due to the suicide of a boy and the institute was shifted to a farm house. Aggrieved, Ram Singh, the father, a resident of village Bala in Rajasthan, filed a complaint against the institution, seeking refund of the money paid.

However, the institution claimed that they had never admitted the complainant’s son nor had they received any money from him. So when this case came up before the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, the only disputed question was whether the complainant had admitted his son in the institution and paid Rs 54,000.

After examining the evidence placed before it, the Commission concluded that the complainant had failed to prove his case with any documentary evidence. The Commission pointed out that the only document produced by the complainant was a hand-written receipt of Rs 54,000 dated June 28, 2011 in the name of Vikram Singh. However, the receipt did not mention the name of the person who received it or the institution on whose behalf the money was taken. The complainant did not even disclose the name of the person to whom the money was given.

“There is no explanation from the petitioner as to why a printed receipt was not obtained, while depositing Rs 54,000. Even otherwise, if the petitioner had admitted his son for coaching and his son had also occupied a room in the hostel before one of the students allegedly committed suicide, there would be documents allocating a room in the hostel to the son of the complainant. No such document has been filed,” the Commission pointed out, while dismissing the case. (Ram Singh Vs BR Khokar Defense Academy, RP NO 1115 of 2017, decided on March 28, 2018.)

Indian consumers are yet to understand the importance of collecting a proper receipt for payments made, whether it is for a service or for a product. And this unfortunate case is a good example of what happens without such a receipt, if things were to go wrong.

In your case, from what you say, obviously, you trusted this representative and believed him when he said that you will get a proper receipt when your son joins the college and did not insist on a receipt. That was the first mistake. The other was to pay by cash. Instead of paying cash, if you had paid by cheque or a credit or a debit card or a mobile wallet, you would still have proof of payment. Unfortunately, you have paid by cash. So how are you going to prove your case in a consumer court?

Does that mean I have now lost that money? Is there any means of recovering it?

Do not lose hope. You may still be able to get back your money, if you pursue the case diligently. For example, if there were witnesses when you made the payment, get their statements. That will help.

Also, from your description of the college and its advertisement, it seems like an online education fraud. One needs to be extremely cautious these days about such online frauds. I would suggest that you lodge a complaint with the economic offences wing of the local police against the college and its representative. The investigation by the police will help you in securing the much-needed proof against the fraudulent institute and its representative. I would also suggest that you try and trace, through social networking sites, other people who would have been similarly defrauded by the representative. A common complaint by all of you would make the case stronger.