By Kashi Prasad
“The Lalit Narayan Mithila University has played joke with the golden career of the complainant debarring him from his studies which is a very serious matter.” With this observation, the President of the District Consumer Redressal Forum, Munger U.B.N. Singh and its members Dr. Shabnam Abha and Bishundeo Sah unanimously slapped Rs. Four lakhs on the university besides Rs. Fifty Thousand for mental agony for ruining the educational career of the complainant. The Forum also ordered to pay Rs. Ten thousand to the complainant towards legal and other expenses .
The judgment was delivered by the Forum this evening. And it was ordered that if the amount slapped on the university was not paid to the complainant within two months, 12% interest per annum will be added on the amount to be paid to the complainant.
Ajay Kumar, an educated unemployed youth had sought his admission in M.B.A. course following advertisements in newspapers that the university has started distant education courses in atleast 12 subjects. Several hundred students including Ajay Kumar got themselves admitted in courses of studies as per own choice in 1998, but the university neither provided reading materials to the students nor arranged for their teaching till about 9 years from the date of admission.
The complainant Ajay Kumar whenever contacted the university on this matter, no satisfactory response was made from the other side and being harassed and mentally agonised, requested the university to return his fees and other charges realised by the university from him in 1998.
The university did not respond at all. The complainant approached the governor – cum- chancellor of the universities of the state who ordered the V.C. L.N.M. University to return back the money to the complainant, but even then the university failed to return back the money to the complainant.
At last, after a lapse of 9 years being disappointed, the complainant filed a complained case in the District Consumers Redressal Forum in 2007 bearing case no. 01/07.
Pleading the case of the complainant counsels of Ajay Kumar said that the university played a fraudlent game by collecting more than one crore from several hundred students in the name of imparting teachiing through correspondece course without getting permission from the proper authority, i.e., the Distant Education Council, New Delhi functioning under the IGNOU under the Central Government.
Though counsel of the university pleaded that permission was not granted to the university that time.(EOM)