NEW DELHI: A district consumer commission in Chandigarh has ordered a visa consultant and his former employee to refund Rs 12.35 lakh, with interest, to a 21-year-old woman. The commission found that fake admission documents were used to make her believe she had got a seat in a Canadian college. It held them guilty of deficiency in service and unfair trade practice.What was the issueThe complainant, Aastha Saini, approached “BB Council,” an immigration and student visa consultancy, after seeing its Facebook ad offering Canadian study visas. The firm’s representative, Pushpinder Kaur, helped her with the process. Between April and August 2022, Saini paid a total of Rs 12,35,000 in parts — Rs 35,000 by bank transfer to Ravinder Singh’s account, and the remaining Rs 12 lakh in cash, handed directly to Pushpinder Kaur.During this time, she was given an offer letter dated June 1, 2022, and a letter of acceptance dated June 27, 2022, both showing that she had got admission to a Canadian institution. But after facing delay after delay, Saini contacted the college herself — Academy of Learning (AOL College) — which told her in writing that “no admission record existed in the complainant’s name.”When she asked for her money back, the consultancy said it had only received Rs 35,000 and blamed Pushpinder Kaur, calling her a former employee who had acted on her own. Saini then sent a legal notice demanding a full refund. When that didn’t work either, she filed this consumer complaint.What did the commission sayRavinder Singh and Pushpinder Kaur never showed up before the commission, even though they were sent notices. The commission said their absence worked against them, since it showed they had nothing to say in their defence.The bench comprising president Amrinder Singh Sidhu and member Brij Mohan Sharma noted that the email from the Canadian college proved that the documents given during the visa process were fake, and that no admission had actually been secured.“The complainant has proved that she approached the OPs for obtaining a Canadian Study Visa after seeing their advertisement and deposited Rs 35,000 on 25.04.2022 in the account of OP No.2 Ravinder Singh. She has further deposed on oath that subsequent amounts of Rs 2,00,000 on 03.06.2022, Rs 6,50,000 on 15.06.2022 and Rs 3,50,000 on 02.08.2022 were paid in cash to Ms Pushpinder Kaur, who was admittedly working as an executive of the OPs at the relevant time,” the commission said.The commission held that this amounted to deficiency in service and unfair trade practice.“The conduct of OP No.2 & 4 in receiving consideration for processing the complainant’s study visa, issuing documents representing that admission had been secured, failing to complete the promised services and thereafter not refunding the amount clearly amounts to deficiency in service as well as unfair trade practice,” it said.The commission ordered Ravinder Singh and Pushpinder Kaur to refund Rs 12,35,000 to Saini, with 9 percent yearly interest from the dates each payment was made, along with Rs 20,000 as compensation for harassment and legal costs, within 45 days.
