Court asks college to refund fee of student who cancelled admission

A consumer court here has directed an engineering college to return the fee of a student who cancelled her admission, and also give her a compensation of Rs 10,000.

Samiksha Sanjay Kirtane, a resident of Kalyan town, informed the Thane District Consumer Redressal Forum that she took admission in the Datta Meghe College of Engineering, located at Airoli in Navi Mumbai, in 2012-13 academic year and paid Rs 89,544 as fee on August 6, 2012.

However, she cancelled the admission on August 27, 2012 and claimed refund of the entire fees paid by her.

She informed the forum that on January 1, 2015 the college offered her a refund of the security deposit of Rs 10,544, which she did not accept.

She later approached the consumer forum to seek refund of the fees and made the college and its principal as respondents to the case.

The consumer forum's president V K Shewale and members T A Thool and G M Kapse in their recent order observed that the complainant cancelled her admission after the cut-off date and commencement of the college on August 25, 2012.

Hence, her case falls under the refund rules prepared by the state Directorate of Technical Education.

The forum ruled that the complainant was entitled to a fund of Rs 88,544, after deduction of the cancellation charges of Rs 1,000 from the total fee paid by her.

The forum also ordered the respondents to pay her a compensation of Rs 10,000 towards mental torture suffered by her and the cost of litigation.