Centre discusses guidelines to check misleading ads, fake claims by coaching institutes; says, ‘Can’t make claims of 100% job placements’

The ministry’s statement came after officials and stakeholders deliberated on the draft guidelines framed to deal with misleading advertisements in the coaching sector.

As per the statement, the guidelines will apply to all the coaching institutes whether online or physical and cover all forms of advertisement regardless of form, format or medium.

The norms prescribe conditions when an advertisement by a coaching institute shall be construed to be misleading advertisement as defined under the Consumer Protection Act 2019 “which inter-alia include concealing important information related to the course opted by the successful candidates [courses opted by successful candidates (whether free or paid), duration of course etc.”

“Coaching institutes shall not make claims of 100% selection or 100% job guaranteed or guaranteed preliminary or mains… The guidelines also provide that coaching institutes shall not make false claims regarding success rates or number of selections and any other practices that may lead to consumer misunderstanding or subvert consumer autonomy and choice,” it said.

The statement said coaching institutes will mention information with the successful candidate’s photo, rank secured by the candidate, course opted, duration of the course, and whether it is paid or free.

“The font of disclaimer/disclosure/important information in the advertisement shall be the same as that used in the claim/advertisement. The placement of such information shall be at a prominent and visible place in the advertisement,” it added.

The ministry stated that the penalty for publishing a misleading advertisement by the coaching sector will be governed as per Consumer Protection Act, 2019. “…violations of the provisions of the Consumer Protection Act 2019 shall continue to be governed under the existing provisions of the Consumer Protection Act 2019,” it said.

The committee observed that there is an urgent need to issue the guidelines and the draft guidelines as discussed in the meeting, it stated. “CCPA had taken suo moto action against misleading advertisements by coaching institutes. In this regard, CCPA has issued notices to 31 coaching institutes for misleading advertisements and imposed fines on nine of them…” it added.

The committee headed by Rohit Kumar Singh, Secretary, Department of Consumer Affairs, and Chief Commissioner of CCPA, has members from other ministries including the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), and the Ministry of Education. It also has representatives from National Law University (NLU), Delhi, FIITJEE, Khan Global Studies and Ikigai Law and Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA) who also participated in the meeting.