The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) has imposed penalty of ₹5 lakh on Shankar IAS Academy for its advertisements with misleading claims under Section- 2(28) (iv) of Consumer Protection Act, 2019.

Shankar IAS Academy in its advertisement made the following claims with respect to UPSC Civil Service exam 2022- “336 selections out of 933 at All India Level”, “40 candidates in Top 100”, “42 candidates have cleared from Tamil Nadu, of which 37 studied at Shankar IAS Academy” “Best IAS Academy in India”.

The CCPA found out that Shankar IAS Academy advertised various types of courses but the information with respect to the course opted by the advertised successful candidates in above mentioned UPSC Civil Service exams results was deliberately concealed in the advertisement. This has the effect of consumers falsely believing that all the successful candidates so claimed by the Institute had opted for the paid courses advertised by the Institute on its website. In other words, this practice consequently attracts consumers into buying paid courses advertised by the coaching institutes, the Authority stated.

In its response, the institute submitted the details of only 333 successful candidates against its claim of 336 plus selections in UPSC CSE 2022 and as per the details of 336 claimed students, 221 took Free Interview Guidance Programme, 71 took Mains Test Series, 35 took Prelims Test Series, 12 took General Studies Prelims cum Mains, 4 took Prelims Test Series with some other mains course (optional and/or GS).

This fact was not disclosed in their advertisement, thereby deceiving consumers and by concealing this important fact, such false and misleading advertisement creates huge impact on those consumers who are UPSC aspirants without letting them know that Shankar IAS Academy role in candidates’ success. Thus, the advertisement has violated the consumer’s right to be informed so as to protect itself against unfair trade practice, the CCPA stated.

Further, the Authority found that in 18 instances where candidates bought Preliminary course from Shankar IAS Academy, the commencement date of the course on the receipt is mentioned as 09.10.2022 but the prelims of UPSC CSE, 2022 exam had already been conducted on 05.06.2022 and result declared on 22.06.2022 which could only mean that these candidates bought Preliminary course for next UPSC CSE prelims exam i.e., 2023. Shankar IAS claimed these candidates in their total selections list of UPSC CSE 2022.

Noting that coaching institutes bombard newspapers, etc. with advertisements soon after announcement of the UPSC Civil Service examination results, the CCPA said that it has issued Notices to numerous coaching institutes for misleading advertisement wherein the CCPA observed that coaching institutes prominently use name and photographs of same successful candidate in its advertisements to create deception as if the successful candidates were full-time classroom students of coaching institutes. After examination of various coaching institutes submissions, CCPA found out that majority of successful candidates had only participated in interview guidance programs or the free-of-cost programmes offered by coaching institutes.

The CCPA observed that same successful candidates were claimed by several coaching institutes without disclosing the courses opted by such candidates and length of the course so attended to mislead prospective aspirants (consumers).