Education is not a commodity; fee to be refunded if student quits: Court to school

News Network
November 9, 2017

Bengaluru, Nov 9: “Education is not a commodity but a pious service rendered to humanity," a city consumer court told a Bengaluru school, asking it to pay Rs 51,000 to a parent who had pulled his daughter out of the school's kindergarten after paying an admission fee of Rs 55,000.

It all began after Brookefield resident Thejas John Philipose decided to withdraw a kindergarten admission he had secured for his daughter at Euro School Foundation, Whitefield, by paying an admission fee of Rs 55,000 on Nov 7, 2015.

Stating that he was transferred on work to Kerala and was relocating, Philipose cancelled the admission for academic year 2016 in March itself and demanded a refund of the fee paid. The authorities, however, refused to refund the so-called `non-refundable' admission fee.

A helpless Philipose approached the Bengaluru Rural and Urban 1st Additional District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum on April 29, 2016 with a complaint against the school authorities.

The court heard arguments from the parent and the education institution represented by its principal. While Philipose demanded a refund, alleging un fair trade practices by the school, the Euro School representative averred that Philipose had signed a declaration, stating that 'fees once paid will not be refunded' before seeking admission for his daughter and that the clause was clearly mentioned in the school admission brochure. The litigation lasted nearly 18 months, at the end of which the court came down heavily on Euro School Foundation.

It asserted that a school brochure and its conditions can't be treated as an agreement or a contract for the admission of a child. "Education is not something one should sell in the open market, whereas providing it is a pious service rendered to humanity," the court said.

It added that a child's school admission is not a business transaction and thus a signature on a declaration of `non-refundable fee' doesn't hold value, especially in a situation where a parent has sought refund well in advance before the commencement of the academic year. In Philipose's case, the refund was requested in March 2016 while KG classes were scheduled to commence only in June.

The court ordered Euro School Foundation to refund Rs 50,000 from the admission fee paid after deducting a sum of Rs 5,000 towards school administration charges. The school was further asked to pay the parent Rs 1,000 towards litigation charges.

Comments

Rahul
 - 
Thursday, 9 Nov 2017

Medical students courses are much expensive so they have to take back from others.

AK Shetty
 - 
Thursday, 9 Nov 2017

True. But other students (Medical) should consider they are doing service. They are taking much more money from patients

Suresh Kumar
 - 
Thursday, 9 Nov 2017

Wise words - “Education is not a commodity but a pious service rendered to humanity,"

Hari
 - 
Thursday, 9 Nov 2017

Many colleges in Karnataka still not refunding to students

Kumar
 - 
Thursday, 9 Nov 2017

True.We welcome this decision

Ganesh
 - 
Thursday, 9 Nov 2017

Most wanted judgement

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News Network
April 28,2020

Bengaluru, Apr 28: There are a total of 523 COVID-19 positive cases have been confirmed in the state, Department of Health and Family Welfare of Karnataka informed on Tuesday.
It informed that there are 295 active COVID-19 cases in Karnataka presently, while 207 patients have been discharged, 20 deaths have been reported.

According to a district-wise breakup, a maximum of 131 cases were reported from Bengaluru urban, followed by Mysuru with 87 cases and Belagavi with 52 cases.

India's total number of coronavirus positive cases rises to 29,974 (including 22010 active cases, 7027 cured/discharged/migrated and 937 deaths), Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said on Tuesday.

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coastaldigest.com news network
March 2,2020

Abu Dhabi: Yogish Prabhu K is the newly elected president of Abu Dhabi’s prestigious India Social & Cultural Centre (ISC) and he will serve for the period 2020-2021. ISC’s annual general body meeting and Election for 2020 were held on Thursday, February 27 and the election results of the election were announced during the early hours of Friday, February 28th morning.

In the keenly contested election, Yogish Prabhu emerged victorious. Humble origin and hailing from a small town of Karkala from Udupi district of Karnataka state has never deterred him from setting challenging goals. He belongs to a well-known Gouda Saraswat Brahmin family of K.V.Prabhu Coconut oil mill in Karkala. He is the eldest son of Late Rtn. Krishna Prabhu and Rtn. Bharati Prabhu.  His father and grandfather were freedom fighters who left a profound impression on him and their ideology “serving people is like worshiping God” (Jana seveye Janardhana seve) inspired and guided his life ever since. Prabhu has been a privilege member of ISC since 2003 and has been actively involved in ISC activities throughout. His relationship with ISC spans over 2 decades during which he has immensely contributed in many ways to ISC and the Indian community at large. A banker by profession, Yogish Prabhu is currently working as Vice President, Group Finance & Treasury, First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB).

With some new initiatives in his mind, Prabhu wants to creatively improve the quality of ISC’s services, its humanitarian impact as well as the diversity of its membership. His intentions are always to help everyone irrespective of caste, creed, religion, language or status. As a new elected President of ISC, Prabhu’s main objective is to strategically plan and implement his vision through his ABC 5 Year Plan i.e.,

A-    Accountability & Transparency,

B-    Build a Sound Financial Plan and

C-    Compassion & Affection for the needy

so that ISC is recognized not just in UAE, but worldwide as a mascot of the great Indian community.

Prabhu thinks “as individuals, we can do only so much but with the support of Elected ISC Committee members and all the ISC members together, there is no limit to what we can achieve, and in the process, we can truly transform the ISC”. He proudly says, “I have a strong treasury management experience in ISC as well as in the bank which we need now more than ever”.

With his dynamic leadership, sheer dedication and ambition, ISC will definitely be scaling new heights of glory and prestige in Abu Dhabi and beyond. His humble nature, leadership qualities coupled with his rich administrative experience will surely help boost ISC’s popularity and meet its challenging goals and can serve people in a better way and contribute to the Indian community at large.

Yogish Prabhu has been married for 28years. His wife Chethana Prabhu Kasaragod too has been equally active in ISC and continuously supporting and participating in various sports, entertainment and literary committees throughout these years. She became ISC Women’s Forum Convener in 2016-2017. Their daughter, Aarti Prabhu is an IT Engineer from NITK Suratkal, working in Bangalore. Son, Ajith Prabhu finished his Masters in Mechanical Engineering and Management in Industrial Design in Queens University, Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK and at present doing his internship there. Both Aarti and Ajith are alumni of Abu Dhabi Indian School and both have represented National level CBSE Badminton meet. Also, Aarti was a Gold medalist in the school for scoring 100 in Mathematics in SSLC.

Following are few of his contributions and achievements:

•          Hon. Asst. Treasurer of ISC for consecutive years from 2005 till 2007

•          Hon. Treasurer of ISC in 2011.

•          Member of Finance Committee of ISC new infrastructure and premises from approval till completion.

•          In 2016, initiated the participation of ISC members as officials for International Yoga Day organized by Indian Embassy

•          In 2017, initiated the participation of children as officials to help the organizers so that children could learn their social responsibility and become good citizens.

•          In 2012, initiated ladies throw ball tournament in ISC and now it is extended to men too.

•          Member of IPEF since its inception in 2014. Also served as its Governing board member in the same year.

•          Founder member of ‘UAE GSB group’ since its formation in 2004

•          Committee member of ‘Gandhi Sahitya Vedi’ Abu Dhabi

•                    Treasurer of Abu Dhabi Karnataka Sangha

•          Head of Finance and member of other committees of ‘World Tulu Convention’ held in Dubai - 2018

 

Election was held for other Posts too. The other office bearers elected to the present committee are:

Vice-President: George Varghese.

General Secretary: Jojo J Ambooken

Asst.Gen.Secretary: C. George Varghese

Treasurer: Shijil Kumar N K

Entertainment Secretary: Jayapradeep K P

Literary Secretary: Elias Padavetty

Sports Secretary: Freddi J. Fernandes

Secretary Southern Region: Raja Srinivasa Rao Aita

Auditor: G.N.Sasikumar

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News Network
February 11,2020

Belagavi, Feb 11: Tension prevailed for sometime here after a few villagers spotted four country-made pistols disposed in the garbage site by the road between Markandey Nagar – Waghavade village on Sunday. Police rushed to the spot and seized the arms which are believed to be of Portugal era.

Sources said some villagers noticed a pistol lying along with heaps of refuse. They informed Bhavakanna Patil, the owner of the agricultural field adjacent to the garbage site. Patil and the villagers checked the garbage and found three more pistols totalling four.

Police said the pistols are about 50 to 60 years old. Going by their condition, all rusted, it is believed that they were left unused for a long time. The Belagavi rural police who have filed a suo motu case related to the incident are getting into the skin of case to trace the owners and those who disposed them in the garbage pit. 

According to preliminary investigation, it is learnt that such pistols were in vogue during Portugal rule in Goa. There are chances that those who inherited the arms may have disposed it for the fear of possessing weapon illegally. The chances of some notorious people who reside in the vicinity near Waghavade and surrounding areas, where burglaries and dacoity are frequently reported, disposing the arms due to the fear of police also cannot be ignored. Police Commissioner Lokesh Kumar was not available for comments.

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