Khan Study Group, which claimed 5 UPSC CSE 2022 toppers are their students, pays ₹5 lakh fine: Report

Earlier this month, the CCPA had slapped the ₹5 lakh penalty on Khan Study Group (KSG) for misleading ads and unfair trade practices, as per a PTI report.

The coaching institute claimed that 682 out of the 933 selected candidates of the Civil Services Examination 2022, including the top five rank holders, are their students.

“Khan Study Group in its advertisement made the following claims – 682 out of 933 selected students are from KSG. All top 5 successful candidates of UPSC Civil Services Exam 2022 are from KSG. Ishita Kishore AIR 1 UPSC 2022 is from KSG. Best IAS Coaching Institute for General Studies and CSAT in India,” the CCPA had said in its official statement.

“Every year when Union Public Service Commission’s (UPSC) Civil Services Exam result comes out, various IAS coaching institutes start an advertisement blitzkrieg claiming successful candidates to be their students…Coaching Institutes use pictures and names of toppers and successful candidates to influence prospective aspirants, without disclosing the courses opted by such candidates or the fees paid by them & length of the course so attended,” the statement said.

In October, CGPA said it is probing 20 such coaching institutes for misleading ads and unfair trade practices.

A penalty of ₹1 lakh each was imposed on three centres – Rau’s IAS Study Circle, Chahal Academy, and IQRA IAS.

Notices were issued to Vajirao & Reddy Institute, Chahal Academy, Khan Study Group IAS, APTI Plus, Analog IAS, Shankar IAS, Sriram’s IAS, BYJU’s IAS, Unacademy, NEXT IAS, Drishti IAS, IQRA IAS, Vision IAS, IAS Baba, Yojana IAS, Plutus IAS, ALS IAS, Rau’s IAS Study Circle and Dhishti IAS.

“The notices have been issued in the last one-and-half years for deliberately concealing important information about successful students. We have imposed a penalty on four centres, while other cases are under investigation,” Chairperson Nidhi Khare had told the media last month.

(With inputs from PTI)