Mumbai: The Bandra Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum has ordered a Bhandup placement company to refund Rs 1,52,000 it had taken from a woman, promising her a job and pay her Rs 1 lakh as compensation for the mental and physical agony she was put through.

A coram of President RG Wankhede and consumer forum members SV Kalal and SK Shere directed Ace Media Recruitment Services to pay the amount with interest at 12 per cent per annum. The forum also directed the agency to pay Rs 10,000 as litigation costs to the woman.

The judgment, authored by member Kalal stated that the letter given to the complainant by the firm appeared to be given to mislead her. Further, it said, the opponent is a private company providing jobs to unemployed youth. Such companies, it observed, mislead needy unemployed youth, loot their money and disappear. They need to have fear, it said and opined that at the level of the state too, there should be effective solutions to deal with them.

The complaint against the placement agency was filed by a Khar resident in August 2019 alleging deficiency in service and unfair trade practices under the Consumer Protection Act. The woman had said in her complaint that she had approached the company as she needed a job. Besides paying Rs 2,000 as registration fees, she had paid Rs 1,50,000 as security deposit in May 2018, she said. The firm had given her a letter promising her a job at the level of junior deputy manager, but it failed to provide her a job at that position, nor could it get her any other. When she had demanded her money back from it, she was issued a cheque which bounced, she complained. She then approached the consumer forum for relief.

The forum had sent a notice to the placement company but no representative of the company appeared before it, nor was a written statement filed.

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