In an order than held that an educational institution, if it provides education or holds examinations, provides a service that is covered under the Consumer Protection Act, the Lucknow Consumer Redressal Forum awarded a sum of Rs. 20 lakhs to a student whose examination results were not provided to him for a long period, and hence compensation was awarded to the sum of this amount of ruining his career, and for litigation costs. This was a complicated where a court case was needed to get the result finally declared, after which the student went to consumer court for getting compensation for time lost and damage to his career. The consumer forum also over-ruled the position of the educational bodies that the consumer court did not hold jurisdiction over them:

LUCKNOW: The State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, Lucknow, has awarded a compensation of Rs 20 lakh to a student who waited for five and half years to obtain his marksheet for a back-paper examination which he undertook in 1999. The commission also held that an educational institution, while imparting education/or holding examination, does render a service as defined in the Consumer Protection Act. It was after repeated requests and written representations could not evoke action on the part of the opposite parties that he filed a writ petition in the high court.
The high court issued an order on May 24, 2004, directing the opposite parties to declare the result of the complainant. But, the order was taken lightly by the opposite parties and complainant, therefore, filed a contempt petition. However, the same was dismissed by the court because in the meantime the complainant’s back-paper result was declared (on April 11, 2004). The complainant then approached the commission. The commission, however, observed that inordinate delay in declaring the result has not only completely blocked but ruined the career of the complainant. It ruled that the case is of deficiency in service and rejected the contention of the opposite parties that the complainant is neither a consumer nor they (opposite parties) are rendering to him any service.

For many years now, there are many sections of society who claim to be serving interests of society, and not provide a consumer service. Medical services are one of them, and so are educational institutions, who take on the mantle of providing a higher service of education. However, in their conduct, they are nowhere near being of high morality, with their behavior being commercial. In such cases, it is eminently justifiable to hold them up for not acting in the interests of the student.

A number of investors in India are invested into Mutual Funds, sold on the promise of being able to get better returns from the equity market without having to worry about direct investment into the equity market. A number of these investors do not have adequate information about the working of the Mutual Fund industry and depend on the Mutual Fund to keep their best interests in mind; something that unfortunately does not happen as much as you would like. For example, a number of Mutual Funds are pushed through investing agents, and since the commission to these agents is much higher for a New Fund Offer, they try and get new investors to put money into these New Fund Offers. SEBI has a FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) section on their website that deals with Mutual Funds. You can access this site here. Some relevant information from this website:
1. When will the investor get certificate or statement of account after investing in a mutual fund?
Mutual funds are required to despatch certificates or statements of accounts within six weeks from the date of closure of the initial subscription of the scheme. In case of close-ended schemes, the investors would get either a demat account statement or unit certificates as these are traded in the stock exchanges. In case of open-ended schemes, a statement of account is issued by the mutual fund within 30 days from the date of closure of initial public offer of the scheme. The procedure of repurchase is mentioned in the offer document.
2. What is an assured return scheme?
Assured return schemes are those schemes that assure a specific return to the unitholders irrespective of performance of the scheme.A scheme cannot promise returns unless such returns are fully guaranteed by the sponsor or AMC and this is required to be disclosed in the offer document. Investors should carefully read the offer document whether return is assured for the entire period of the scheme or only for a certain period. Some schemes assure returns one year at a time and they review and change it at the beginning of the next year.
3. Can a mutual fund change the asset allocation while deploying funds of investors?
Considering the market trends, any prudent fund managers can change the asset allocation i.e. he can invest higher or lower percentage of the fund in equity or debt instruments compared to what is disclosed in the offer document. It can be done on a short term basis on defensive considerations i.e. to protect the NAV. Hence the fund managers are allowed certain flexibility in altering the asset allocation considering the interest of the investors. In case the mutual fund wants to change the asset allocation on a permanent basis, they are required to inform the unitholders and giving them option to exit the scheme at prevailing NAV without any load.
4. Can a mutual fund change the nature of the scheme from the one specified in the offer document?
Yes.However, no change in the nature or terms of the scheme, known as fundamental attributes of the scheme e.g. structure, investment pattern, etc. can be carried out unless a written communication is sent to each unitholder and an advertisement is given in one English daily having nationwide circulation and in a newspaper published in the language of the region where the head office of the mutual fund is situated. The unitholders have the right to exit the scheme at the prevailing NAV without any exit load if they do not want to continue with the scheme. The mutual funds are also required to follow similar procedure while converting the scheme from close-ended to open-ended scheme and in case of change in sponsor. The mutual funds are required to inform about any material changes to their unitholders.
5. Is there any difference between issue of a mutual fund and an initial public offering (IPO) of a company?
Yes, there is a difference. IPOs of companies may open at lower or higher price than the issue price depending on market sentiment and perception of investors. However, in the case of mutual funds, the par value of the units may not rise or fall immediately after allotment. A mutual fund scheme takes some time to make investment in securities. NAV of the scheme depends on the value of securities in which the funds have been deployed.
6. How can I redress my complaints?
You would find the name of contact person, in the offer document of the mutual fund scheme, whom you may approach in case of any query, complaints or grievances. Trustees of a mutual fund monitor the activities of the mutual fund. The names of the directors of asset management company and trustees are also given in the offer documents. You can also approach SEBI for redressal of their complaints. On receipt of complaints, SEBI takes up the matter with the concerned mutual fund and follows up with them till the matter is resolved.

In addition, given that you have invested your hard-earned money, you should do more research into the Mutual Fund industry. For this purpose, you can read information at these links:

1. ICICIDirect Mutual Funds (Learn & Search)
2. ValueResearchOnline.com (Learn & Search)
3. Sify Mutual Fund Page
4. MyIris.com (Learn & Search)

This seems like a good way to help farmers in Haryana to get information that helps them, and that too without running around and chasing after some Government Babu who may not be too interested. Sometimes one wonders as to how Government departments are able to implement such innovative solutions, that too, which actually work and which can be used by people in the State, no matter where they reside:

Farmers in Haryana are SMSing a free government helpline to get solutions to their agro-problems. The government set up this trouble-shooting service in February, the first of its kind in the country. Farmers can contact senior officials of the agriculture department for advice. Even illiterate farmers are taking help of others in the family or neighbourhood to send SMSes.
Officials say it will take time to exploit such technology in the farm sector. They feel this service will go a long way to educate farmers once they get hooked to it. The department feels that farmers have been deprived of scientific advice as agriculture department officials and professors of agriculture universities have been unable to disseminate information to farmers in remote areas. Mobile technology is helping surmount these problems.

This can be really useful for farmers. If Indian agriculture can increase their productivity, it will enrich a lot of farmers and really drive up the rural economy, and bring about a change in the income level across the country. What really helps is that when such a service is implemented in one region, other regions make an effort to copy it and learn from the implementation.
In February, the Haryana Agriculture Department set up the totally free SMS service to reply to the problems and queries of the farmers. All the farmers need to do is send a text message to 9915862026 after which scientists and officials get in touch with the farmers through telephone. What’s best is that the farmers are contacted within 24-48 hours itself. Another good thing about the service is that the farmers do not experience any dent in their pockets whatsoever, as the telephone call costs is borne by the state government.
The Central government had also set up a toll free Kisan Call Centre. Level-I Call Centre for Haryana had been arranged at National Horticulture Board, Gurgaon with telephone number 1551. The level-II Centres of this service had been established at Directorate of Agriculture, Directorate of Horticulture, Panchkula and CCS Haryana Agriculture University, Hisar. The Department is offering further help through the process of computerization and automation of the field offices and had launched its website, www.agriharyana.nic.in.

Andhra Pradesh led the public perception in trying to ensure that citizens got quick access to information through greater availability of such information through the internet and through public networks. These included records such as land records, farm information, weather information, all information that helps citizens and which was available with great difficult; such information was prized by the bureaucracy and meant a great source of money to the babudom. With more such information being available easily and another useful weapon in the shape of the RTI Act, maybe things can change for the better. Read on more about what Uttar Pradesh can do:

LUCKNOW: Moving a step forward in the direction of implementation of e-governance for discharging government related works, 33 websites of different departments were formally inaugurated on Saturday by chief secretary PK Mishra. Principal secretary information technology VN Garg told reporters that the main objective of launching websites of all government departments was to ensure transparency in functioning of the government.
Besides necessary training to the staff, computer and Internet facility shall be provided to each of the sections in the next few months, said the principal secretary, adding that it would bring about revolutionary change in the functioning of the government. Referring to the importance of departmental websites, Garg said that the public in general would largely be benefited by the information available on the websites. Citing an example, he said, “If a person has applied for a gun licence and wishes to know the status of his application, a simple click of the mouse on the collectorate’s website would do the needful,” said the IT principal secretary.
Garg said that till now the departmental websites were updated by the NIC but now it was made mandatory for the departmental heads to periodically update their website. To provide e-governance facility at the district level, a pilot project covering six districts — Sitapur, Sultanpur, Gorakhpur, Rae Bareli, Ghaziabad and Noida —- has been launched.

This is a very tough call. The political leaders need to realize that once the genie of more public information is available and people get used to this access, it will be difficult to get back. Also, the removal of such a source of easy corrupt money will be a hard take for the babudom :-). and since political leaders at a local level also make use of such corruption, this will make things harder. However, it is very good news for local citizens, getting access to non-secret information is their right.

Investments in Mutual Fund in India have grown at a steady pace over the recent few years, and every analyst and financial magazine recommends investments in Mutual Funds as a way to get into equity, especially for those who are not comfortable with direct investments in equity; or are risk-averse to some degree, or don’t have the time to study the equity market or individual stocks.
In the midst of all, this Mutual Fund market faces a steady stream of criticism, related to charging high fees, or releasing a number of new funds on a regular basis so as to be able to take advantage of a higher amortization of marketing fees, or how selling agents will want to sell new Mutual Funds as the commission is more. There is the need for customer protection, and if the Mutual Fund industry does not do its own introspection, there will be higher regulation.
Well, it does not seem like there are many measure being taken in this regard. However, the Mutual Fund industry realizes the need to get more people invested into Mutual Funds, and maybe as more invest, there will emerge the need for more protection. Right now, the industry is geared towards getting more people invested into the market.

The fast growing mutual fund (MF) industry, for some time now, has realised that it should spend more on educating people about the virtues of investing through the fund route. This is so, because fund houses realise that going forward informed investors could become the main growth drivers for MF industry
The report has also proposed that the government could make some budgetary allocations for meeting the cost of investor education and bring the Investor Education and Protection Fund (IEPF), currently with Ministry of Company Affairs, under the market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi). At present, the funds collected under IEPF is mainly the unclaimed dividend from companies. IEPF goes to the Consolidated Funds of India, a fund managed by the government. The CII report proposed that IEPF should be spent for investor awareness and not go to consolidated funds.

It is a good first step, but a lot more needs to be done. Mutual Funds are also the retirement vehicles for a number of people, and investor education really needs to be a high priority.