The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) has imposed a penalty of Rs 7 lakh on Vajiram and Ravi IAS Study Centre LLP for allegedly publishing misleading advertisements and withholding material information about candidate success in the UPSC Civil Services Examination (CSE).

The final order, issued by the CCPA under Chief Commissioner Nidhi Khare and Commissioner Anupam Mishra, found that the coaching institute prominently advertised the achievements of successful UPSC CSE 2023 candidates without specifying the particular courses those candidates had undertaken.

The institute's official website claimed that "8 Rank Holders in the Top 10 are from Vajiram & Ravi," "37 Rank Holders in the Top 50 are from Vajiram & Ravi," and that "more than 30 per cent of the officers selected through UPSC Civil Services Examination are students of Vajiram & Ravi" annually.

Investigation revealed that seven of the eight top-10 rank holders and 29 of the 37 top-50 candidates had enrolled only in the institute's free Interview Guidance Programme (IGP). Furthermore, a majority of recent successful candidates associated with the institute had participated solely in the IGP. According to data cited, 86.36 per cent of successful candidates in 2021, 78.31 per cent in 2022, 97.56 per cent in 2023, and 71.69 per cent in 2024 had enrolled exclusively in the interview guidance programme.

The CCPA noted that the Interview Guidance Programme commences only after candidates independently clear the Preliminary and Mains stages of the UPSC examination. By featuring such candidates in advertisements promoting comprehensive coaching programmes without clarifying their actual enrolment, the institute allegedly created the impression that their success was attributable to its full-length courses.

The authority ruled that the failure to disclose important information about the courses taken by successful candidates amounted to a misleading advertisement under Section 2(28)(iv) of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019, and violated consumers' right to be informed under Section 2(9) of the Act.