IIPM, ISBE told to refund five students

Bengaluru: The Indian Institute of Planning and Management (IIPM) and the Indian School of Business and Economy (ISBE), which are at loggerheads with various statutory bodies, including the University Grants Commission (UGC), have received a rude shock from five students enrolled in Bengaluru campus.

Based on the complaint lodged by these students, the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum has directed these institutes to pay Rs 1 lakh each as compensation to these five students. In addition, the forum also directed the institutes to refund Rs 23,65,370 paid by these five students as fees for the MBA course offered by the institute.

Shivaraj Ashok and Muddassir Jawed, both from Kalaburagi, Mary Priya from Kurnool, Sajid Khan Khazi from Hubbali and Pradip Singh Chauhan from Gujarat, had dragged these two institutes to the forum. Now the forum has directed the institutes to refund Rs 23,65,370 paid by students as course fee and Rs 1 lakh each as compensation for the five students.

These five students said that they had approached the ISBE for the MBA course and the institute had assured them a world class MBA with top faculty and a course approved by Gulbarga University. At the end of the first semester, the exam was supposed to be conducted by Gulbarga University. When the time came, the institute informed the students that exams were delayed and would be held a little later. Later, the institute informed the students that Gulbarga University had permitted them to conduct their own exam and that Gulbarga University would conduct exams at the end of the 4th semester. When these students put in an RTI application with Gulbarga University, the university authorities informed them that the institute had only put in an application for approval, but had not followed this up nor had they complied with the requirements of the university.

But the institute rejected all the charges, stating it had applied for outreach Academic Programmes for its 18 centres under Gulbarga University and that Gulbarga University had granted provisional permission and authorized their 18 centres as outreach partner institutions, authorizing them to conduct MBA (2 years) Executive MBA (1 year) and BBA (3 years) courses. The Institute also informed the forum that the IIPM has always given full disclosure about its courses, credentials etc and has always maintained total transparency regarding the courses offered. In addition to the prospectus, the institute has a FAQ page uploaded on their website hyperlink, which deals with all kinds of queries about the institution and courses offered.

Despite this, the consumer court ruled in favour of the five students and directed the institute to refund the entire fee amount of all the students, besides Rs 1 lakh as compensation for them for wasting their two precious academic years.