AN OVERSEAS student has claimed in court that when he insisted on the refund of an €8,000 tutorial fee from a Dublin business college, he had been told the college would have him deported.
Circuit Court president Mr Justice Matthew Deery, awarding Vadivelan Munirathinam more than €12,000 in compensation and damages against Export Edge Business College, Merrion Square, Dublin, said the college had denied the allegation.
Mr Munirathinam, from India, told the court he had booked and paid for a full-time diploma course in global trade and e-business, but when he arrived in Dublin in 2006, he found there was no course available for him.
His barrister James Phillips said Mr Munirathinam claimed he had been left sitting in a room alone in front of a computer for days on the basis his course had been cancelled because of lack of interest.
Mr Phillips said Mr Munirathinam had borrowed money from a bank in India to fund his educational trip to Ireland and he had to take a part-time job to help maintain himself.
Mr Justice Deery, in a reserved judgment, said Mr Munirathinam was entitled to succeed in his claim for the return of the €8,000 course fee, bank interest, accommodation and damages for stress.
Although the college denied threats of having him deported if he insisted on demanding his money back, Mr Munirathinam had gone to the Garda Immigration Bureau to report his fears.
A bureau member had given evidence of advising him it was a civil matter.
The judge said Mr Munirathinam had been informed of the start-up date for the course and when he arrived in Dublin, he was told the course was already well advanced.
It was the college’s case that he had arrived late.
Although college owner Austin Ruttledge had told the court that Mr Munirathinam had been given one-to-one education, the plaintiff had stated he effectively had been left in a room with a computer during the months of May, June and July 2006.
Mr Justice Deery said Mr Munirathinam had just been married before his arrival in Dublin and he felt he would have not left India in April 2006 for Dublin if he had been informed of a September 2006 start-up date, as claimed by the college.
He said Export Edge Services Ltd had received Mr Munirathinam’s money without being in a position to fulfil its end of the bargain as advertised.
He had spent four effectively wasted months in Ireland until he had got into another business course.
Mr Justice Deery directed that Mr Munirathinam be returned his €8,000 fee with €2,180 compensation for accommodation and bank interest, as well as €1,500 for inconvenience and stress and awarded costs against the college.