State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission
Sri Ritajit Biswas vs Mr. Dhruba Jyoti Ganguly on 13 September, 2023
Cause Title/Judgement-Entry STATE CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL COMMISSION WEST BENGAL 11A, Mirza Ghalib Street, Kolkata - 700087 Complaint Case No. CC/47/2019 ( Date of Filing : 18 Jan 2019 ) 1. Sri Ritajit Biswas S/o Dr. Jaydip Biswas, EE -174A, Flat no.2, Salt Lake, Sector -II, Kolkata - 700 091. ...........Complainant(s) Versus 1. Mr. Dhruba Jyoti Ganguly Prop., Ramkrishna Paramhamsa Educational Services, 302, Bells House, 10A, Ho Che Minh Sarani, Kolkata - 700 071. ............Opp.Party(s) BEFORE: HON'BLE MR. AJEYA MATILAL PRESIDING MEMBER HON'BLE MRS. SOMA BHATTACHARJEE MEMBER PRESENT: Mr. Emon Bhattacharya, Advocate for the Complainant 1 Mr. Emon Bhattacharya, Advocate for the Complainant 2 Dated : 13 Sep 2023 Final Order / Judgement Hon'ble Mrs. Soma Bhattacharjee, Member
Published on 06.10.2023 CC/47/2019 has been filed by Ritajit Biswas against Dhrubajyoti Ganguly, OP u/s 17 (1) (a) (i) read with section 12, 13, 14 of Consumer Protection, 1986.
The Opposite Party Dhrubajyoti Ganguly is the proprietor of Ramkrishna Paramhangsha Educational Services and provides services for admission of students in various educational institutions.
The case of the complainant is that on June 14, 2018 the OP entered into an agreement with the complainant Ritajit Biswas where he promised to get the complainant admitted to one of the Medical Colleges out of 4 Medical Colleges as mentioned in the said agreement, for the academic session 2018, 19 on priority basis. As per the agreement the complainant was to make a payment of Rs. 5,00,000/- as an advance towards the consultancy for admission guidance in MBBS course for the said institution. The 4 Institutions to which the complainant was promised to be admitted are (i) Kasturba Medical College (Manipal), (ii) Sikkhim Manipal Institute of Medical Science (Sikkhim), (iii) KIMS (Odisha) & (iv) M.S. Ramhaiah (Bangalore). On June 5, 2018 the result of the NEET exam was published and the petitioner obtained the specified qualifying marks in the said entrance test and secured a certain rank. This rank was communicated to the OP for securing admission to one of the 4 colleges mentioned in the agreement.
The complainant states that as per the stipulations of the said agreement your complainant made payment of Rs. 5,00,000/- through one cheque being No. 938544, dated June 14, 2018 Drawn on State Bank of India NIOH BT Road Branch on the date on which the said agreement was executed and the Opposite Party acknowledge the receipt of the same which can be evident from clause of the said agreement.
9. Complainant states that thereafter on three occasions your complainant made payment of an aggregated sum of Rs. 32,00,000/- out of which on July 09, 2018, your complainant paid a sum of Rs. 2,00,000/- vide one cheque being No. 938547, dated July 09, 2018, drawn on State Bank of India NIOH BT Road Branch, thereafter on July 12, 2018 your petitioner made payment of Rs. 10,00,000/- in cash and on the same date your petitioner further made payment of sum of Rs. 20,00,000/- vide two cheques being No. 938549 and 938550, both dated July 12, 2018 drawn on State Bank of India, NIOH BT Road Branch. Acknowledging the receipt of the payments as aforesaid, the Opposite Party issued three money receipt being No. 165 dated July 09, 2018, 169 dated July 12, 2018 and 170 dated July 12, 2018 respectively. Photostat copies of the said money receipts issued by the Opposite Party are annexed with the complaint petition and collectively marked with letter "B".
The counsel of the complainant submitted that the OP failed to secure admission of Ritojit Biswas into any of the four Medical Colleges mentioned in the agreement dt. 14.06.2018. On the other hand he secured admission on his own in Sathyasai Medical College and Research Institute at Kanchipuram Tamil Nadu. Hence the complainant was entitled to refund of the amount paid to the OP.
In spite of service of notice upon the sole OP he did not enter appearance. In view of the decision of the Three Judge Bench of Hon'ble Supreme Court reported in 2016 (1) Supreme 319 (New India Assurance Company Ltd. -vs- Hill Multi Purpose Cold Storage Pvt. Ltd.) the OP was debarred from filing W.V. Considered the complaint petition, submission of the Ld. Counsel for the complainant and materials and documents annexed. The points for consideration are:-
Is the complaint maintainable under the C.P. Act 1986? Was there any negligence or deficiency on the part of the OP/respondents? Is the complainant/appellant entitled to any relief as prayed for?
The argument of the Ld. Counsel for the complainant is that the complainant paid total amount of Rs. 37,00,000/- to the OP Dhrubojyoti Ganguly for consultancy for admission guidance in MBBS Course in any one of the four Medical Institutions specified in the agreement.
As per the C.P. Act, 1986 "service" means "Service of any description, which is made available to potential users and includes, but not limited to the provisions of the facilities in connection with (a) banking (b) financing (c) insurance (d) transport (e) processing (f) supply of electrical or other energy (g) boarding or lodging or both (h) house construction (i) entertainment (j) amusement or (k) the purveying of new or other information. But 'service' does not include the rendering of any service free of charge or under a contract of personal service.
It appears on consideration of the argument of the complainant and the provisions of Consumer Protection Act, 1986 that "Consultancy for admission guidance" does not fall within the ambit of Consumer Protection Act 1986.
So, the complaint is not maintainable. The complainant is not a consumer. There is no deficiency in service. Complainant is not entitled to any relief under the C.P. Act, 1986.
It is ordered On consideration it is seen that 'consultancy for admission guidance' is not a service under the provision of Consumer Protection Act, 1986. The complaint case is therefore not maintainable and dismissed ex parte. There shall be no order as to the costs.
Free certified copies to be issued to all parties.
[HON'BLE MR. AJEYA MATILAL] PRESIDING MEMBER [HON'BLE MRS. SOMA BHATTACHARJEE] MEMBER