Parents fume at FIITJEE , throng closed centres in Noida, Ghaziabad

AGRA: The abrupt closure of FIITJEE centres in Noida and Ghaziabad sent parents fuming, and to the firm's institute in Noida's Sector 62, where they denounced the company through slogans and demanded the government's intervention getting it punished. The founder of FIITJEE and 11 other people were booked after several of its centres in Delhi-NCR abruptly shut down, the Noida Police said on Saturday.

FIITJEE founder DK Goyal, chief financial Officer Rajiv Babbar, Chief Operating Officer Manish Anand and its Greater Noida branch head Ramesh Batlesh have been named in the FIR, a Noida Police spokesperson said. Mrinal, the father of an 11-year-old class 11 student, said, "I have deposited more than Rs 3 lakh in fees for my daughter who took admission for the March session. I submitted the entire fee, but suddenly I got this news of the closing of the centre." He said the closure shook him, a private tutor, from inside. "I demand strict action should be taken and a refund of the FIITJEE fee of parents should be given to parents," he said.

'Took fees in advance and now closed the institute' claims parents

Father of a class 10 student, Alok said he paid the fees for an entire session for his son whose future he is now worried about. "My son has a Board exam, but now this situation has come up. I have paid the entire fees for the course. They are spoiling the next generation's future. We want some response from the institution and government, so that our money and the future of our children can be saved. We are also planning to take legal action in this case," he said. Avijit, another parent, said he deposited Rs 1.5 lakh in advance for the July session. "They took fees in advance and now they have closed the FIITJEE institute. This is very worrying for every parent. There are about 1,500 students studying and everyone is in deep shock about what would happen," he said.

FIITJEE centre shuts abruptly

He added, "To utter shock and surprise for the parents, they even not issued any notice or communication regarding the closure." According to FIITJEE's website, it runs 73 centres across the country, providing coaching for competitive exams to engineering aspirants. Citing the complaint of Satsang Kumar, a resident of Greater Noida, the Police spokesperson said the institute's Sector 62 centre was open till January 21 but was closed an hour before schedule. Later, it was found that the centre had been completely shut. He claimed that more than 2,000 students studied at the centre. In Delhi, the police launched a probe after more than 250 people accused FIITJEE's East Delhi centre of fraudulent practices and mismanagement following the coaching institute's abrupt shutdown, sources said.