FIITJEE is a cram school founded by Dinesh Kumar Goel. It has a pan-India network of 84 branches in over 50 cities. It offers courses for students of grades 6 to 12 aspiring to appear in JEE, SAT, NTSE, KVPY, JSTSE, INCHO, INMO, INPHO and various other examinations.
The 2009 IIT-JEE topper Nitin Jain who trained for his exams at FIITJEE said that he had been coerced into writing a letter of recommendation which the coaching institute had published in their advertisements. The institute opened a website where they published answers in the name of Jain. He and his father accused FIITJEE and another coaching institute, "Aakash" for "misusing" Jain's name "for commercial interest". Jain clarified that he had never attended the Aakash Institute. The Union Ministry for Human Resource Development referred the matter for an investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation. FIITJEE denied the allegations. Jain later wrote in his book The Secret of My Success that he was "subtly pressurised" and "cajoled into writing the letter and most of it was not true." FIITJEE moved the Delhi High Court claiming that parts of the book were "defamatory, offensive and fallacious" and sought a permanent injunction on the book's publication. The High Court dismissed the appeal citing that the institute needed to prove that what the writer had published in his book was wrong. Jain and his father said that Nitin had received lesser amount under the institute's Talent Reward Exam than what the institute claimed and that too after several rounds of the institute's office. The Delhi High Court in 2011 restrained FIITJEE from using Jain's name and photograph in their advertisements. Jain later sought Rs. 5.85 crore in damage from FIITJEE for breaching his and his family's right to privacy, using his photos and videos "for luring students for admission" and for allegedly giving his photos to pornographic websites as well. The institute said that Jain was not entitled to any damages. In reply he moved the Delhi High Court in 2018 for settling the claims.
Legal cases
FIITJEE has recently come under many legal cases in recent times mostly from its past students and employees.
Refund cases
FIITJEE has faced several cases in Consumer Courts for not returning the fees paid by students when they quit the institute. In one of such cases in April 2017, the Hyderabad districtconsumer court directed FIITJEE to return 75% of the fees paid upfront and pay compensation of ₹100,000 to parents. A Nagpur district forum ruled out that the coaching classes taking advance fees was a discrepancy and directed FIITJEE to refund ₹75,000 to a student who had enrolled in a 4-year program but left it following the lack of discipline and a biology teacher for two years.
On November 6, 2017 the Paradise Papers revealed that 1,952,907 shares of FIITJEE valued at ₹360 million were sold by QLearn company of Mauritius to Mumbai's Ambit Group in July 2015. QLearn is a subsidiary of Qatari firm Qinvest and the Ambit Group is one of the investors in it.
