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Article Published in the Express Magazine Dated
January 28, 2001
General Attorney : Rajiv K. Luthra
I am enrolled with a computer institute and am
not satisfied with the quality of education
imparted by it. It is not what was promised at the
time of enrollment to the course. I have paid a
fee of Rs 50,000/- through bank loan. The Faculty
is under-qualified & inexperienced. There are no
theory lectures. The amenities provided are also
not satisfactory. When I demanded transfer to
another Center of the same Institute, they are
denying me the same. What can I do to challenge
them in the Consumer Court?
S. Kasliwal, New Delhi
Section 2(o) of the Consumer Protection Act takes
within its ambit services of any description made
available to potential users. Although education
has not been explicitly defined as services for
the purposes of the Act, since educational
institutions charge high fees for rendering their
services and imparting education the Courts have,
at several instances, held that it comes within
the purview of services as defined in Section 2(o)
of the Act. The Act has been enacted to redress a
consumer for a deficiency of service with respect
to consideration paid or promised to be paid.
Deficiency of service is defined in Sec 2(1)(g) of
the Act as "any fault, imperfection, shortcoming
or inadequacy in the quality, nature and manner of
performance which is required to be maintained by
or under any law for the time being in force or
has been undertaken to be performed by a person in
pursuance of a contract or otherwise in relation
to any service" and has to be proved by the
complainant to the satisfaction of the Forum. In
your case a complaint of the services provided by
the Computer Institution, can be brought to a
Consumer Redressal Forum by filing a complaint for
deficiency of service. You may move your complaint
by way of an application presented to the Consumer
Forum, which will serve a copy thereof to the
other party. It is important that your complaint
clearly expresses all the reliefs sought by you.
The onus of proof of deficiency of service lies
with the consumer. The Forum may issue an order
based on the evidence given by the parties, to
remove the defects or deficiencies in the service
in question, if the allegations are proved. It
even has the jurisdiction to order compensation if
it feels that the same would constitute the
appropriate relief to the aggrieved consumer.
This is with reference to an earlier column of
yours where it was made to understand that a
confession is different from an admission. I would
request you to explain the difference between the
two.
Sameena Rizwi, Aligarh
The word confession has not been defined anywhere
in the Indian Evidence Act, 1872. A confession is
an admission made at any time by a person charged
with a crime stating or suggesting the inference
that he committed the crime. An admission is a
statement of fact, which waives or dispenses with
the production of evidence by conceding that the
fact asserted by the opponent is true. Admissions
maybe oral or contained in documents. Although
both the concepts may appear similar, a thin line
demarcates the two specifically with regard to
their evidentiary value, before a court of law.
While a confession is a statement made by an
accused person which is sought to be proved
against him in a criminal proceeding to establish
the commission of an offence by him, an admission
usually relates to a civil transaction and
comprises all statements amounting to admissions.
A confession if deliberately and voluntarily made
may be accepted as conclusive in itself of the
matters confessed. An admission is not conclusive
proof of matters admitted and the person admitting
is deprived from taking a contradictory stand
thereafter. Another distinction between the two is
that while a confession always goes against a
person making it, an admission maybe used on
behalf of the person making it under certain
circumstances mentioned in Section 21 of the
Evidence Act.
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