Several FIITJEE centers in Delhi, Noida, Lucknow shutdown; police book 12 officials — here’s what happened

FIITJEE coaching centers shutdown: Several centers of FIITJEE, a popular institute which offers coaching for IIT-JEE and other competitive exams, have shut down leaving parents and students in distress. Several media reports have stated that the police have received complaints about the issue, and an investigation is underway.

According to a Hindustan Times report, private FIITJEE coaching centers in Delhi, Meerut, Ghaziabad, Lucknow, Varanasi, Bhopal, Patna, and the latest one in Noida have closed. 

Additionally, a report by News9 mentioned that two FIITJEE centers in Pune were also shutdown affecting over 300 students. Furthermore, a center in Rajnagar District centers was also closed bringing over 800 students in distress.

Police files FIR

The founder of FIITJEE and 11 other people were booked on a complaint by parents of the coaching institute’s students after several of its centres in Delhi-NCR abruptly shut down, the Noida Police was quoted by PTI as saying on Saturday.

FIITJEE founder DK Goyal, Chief Financial Officer Rajiv Babbar, Chief Operating Officer Manish Anand and its Greater Noida branch head Ramesh Batlesh were named in the FIR, a Noida Police spokesperson said.

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 told PTI.

FIITJEE coaching centers shutdown: What led to closure of several FIITJEE coaching centers?

The abrupt closure of FIITJEE centres has left many students and their parents, who have paid fees running into lakhs of rupees, in the lurch.

Two former teachers from the Patna centre tol the Hindustan Times in an interview that they left FIITJEE due to months of unpaid salaries. 

One of the teachers said, “I have been teaching there for more than four years but I left the Patna coaching center in November last year because I had not been paid since July 2024.”

A staff member from the Meerut center explained to HT that the center is currently unable to offer classes due to a lack of teachers, as the faculty recently left for better offers from other coaching centers. Informing HT, the staff member added, “We have informed the situation to the FIITJEE Delhi head office and we will restart the classes if they provide us sufficient faculty to teach around 500 students.”

Parent say ‘paid 100% of the fees for 5 years’

While speaking to news agency ANI, Parent Rajiv Kumar Chaudhary said, “We are here to file an FIR against FIIT JEE today. We had paid 100% of the fees for 5 years, out of which 2 years are remaining. On Monday, we got a message from FIITJEE to shift our children to Aakash Institute. We will decide where we will teach our child. FIITJEE cannot tell us that.”

‘Management not picking up their phones’: another parent raise concern

Parent Avinash Kumar told ANI on January 23, “We had enrolled our child in FIITJEE, and now it has been shut down. We have come here to file an FIR… Management (of FIIT JEE) is not picking up their phones. They are all frauds. They should return our money. The government should take cognizance of this matter as it is a question of my child’s future.”

What did FIITJEE say?

The institute, however, said in a statement, “FIITJEE has not closed any centre as part of its own decision. Overnight desertion of the centre by the centre managing partner, along with the entire team, is the only reason for this force majeure type of condition.”

“The present turmoil in the institution is temporary. Company officials are working to resume operations at all places within a reasonable time,” it added.

FIITJEE denied allegations that many teachers left because of non-payment of salaries for months and attributed the situation to “a criminal conspiracy hatched by people with vested interests”.

“Our legal team is taking appropriate action against the malicious prosecutions lodged against us,” it said.

Managing partners responsible?

The institute alleged that it was a “victim of exploitation” by managing partners.

“Owing to mismanagement and exploitation by managing partners, FIITJEE’s financial situation worsened in January 2024. The group CFO (chief financial officer) forecast that after six months, the company might run into an operational cash crunch,” it said.

Highlighting the steps taken to address the situation, FIITJEE said, “In February 2024, the company questioned the core group as well as all managing partners and told them to optimise the excess manpower, improve work culture, and clearly outline the strategy for bouncing back from the situation.”

Most of the managing partners did not take any action. In fact, even this situation was exploited by some managing partners to gain unfair advantage, it added.

The institute also accused its competitors of engaging in unfair practices.

“We are also going to take strict legal action against the unfair trade practices adopted by our competitors before civil and criminal courts,” it said.