BATTLE OVER FEES

Two candidates and a premier fashion design institute have been locked in a court battle over fee refund for more than a decade.

- Abhay Anand

In 2006, cousins Ruby and Shikha Goel from Delhi got admission in the premier National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT). That admission process led to a protracted legal battle with the institution that, 13 years later, is still on.

The case remains unresolved although several consumer courts had initially validated the sisters’ claim. In 2006, the women had applied for the Delhi campus of NIFT but were allocated the Kolkata centre. When they attempted to withdraw their admission and applied for a full refund, they were returned only a small amount. They filed a case in a consumer court. Since then, the case has travelled through consumer courts at the district, state and national level. Initial judgments favoured the sisters but later ones have not. The case remains unresolved with neither party willing to back down.

The women argue that the institute kept their fees – a combined amount of about Rs. 6 lakh – even though they didn’t join that year. The institute has countered that due process was followed in the refund of money and allocation of seats. Ruby Goel, now in her 30s, did study in NIFT, joining in 2007. “My parents had to run from pillar to post to get their hard-earned money back,” she said.