New Delhi, Sep 30 (UNI) The Supreme Court on Monday granted relief to a Dalit student who lost a chance to get admission to the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) because he was late in paying the online admission fee of Rs 17,500 by a few minutes.
A bench comprising Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud, Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra directed that the petitioner should be admitted to the seat in the Electrical Engineering course at IIT Dhanbad which was allotted to him.
The Court stated that a supernumerary post be created for him to accommodate him so that the admission of no other student is disturbed.
“We cannot allow such a young talented boy to go away,” CJI Chandrachud observed.
The counsel appearing for the IIT Seat Allocation Authority opposed the plea saying it was not due to login at the last minute. In the mock interview, he was told to pay. NIC sent him an SMS and IIT sent him two WhatsApp chats to finish the payment.
Further, the authority said that his login details indicated that he was logged in at 3 pm, which meant it was not a last-minute login.
The petitioner was informed about the need to make the payment on the date of the mock interview, much prior to the last date, the counsel for the authority said, adding that he was sent repeated reminders through SMS and WhatsApp.
The Court, however, insisted and directed the authority to find relief for the student.
CJI said, “He is the son of a daily wager, We know technology is good.
“Why are you opposing so much? You should see if something could be done,” Justice Pardiwala said.
Advocates Amol Chitale, Sarthak Sharma, and AOR Mrs Pragya Baghel, appeared for the petitioner and submitted that his father was working for a daily wage of Rs 450 and arranging the amount of Rs 17,500 was a big task for them and they crowd-funded the amount from the villagers.
The bench, in its order, observed that there is no conceivable reason why the petitioner would not have paid the amount if he had the wherewithal to pay the amount of Rs 17,500.
“The only thing that stopped him was the inability to pay and as the Supreme Court of India we need to see that,” CJI said.
CJI also said that the Court has also taken into account his social and economic background.
CJI said, “We cannot allow such a young talented boy to go away. He went to the Jharkhand legal services authority. Then he went to Chennai legal services and then he is sent to high court.
He is a Dalit boy being made to run from pillar to post, CJI said.
Under Article 142 of the constitution, there are some cases where we keep the law a little aside and direct the authority to create a seat for the bright student in the same place, CJI directed.
“We are affirmatively of the view that a talented student like him should not be left in the lurch. The power of the Court under Article 142 of the Constitution to do complete justice is to address such situations,” the Court said.
The Court directed that the petitioner would pay the amount of Rs17, 500 in person. The petitioner should be admitted to the same batch in which he would have been admitted and should be given all consequential benefits such as hostel admission, the Court added.
“All the best! Acha kariye!” CJI Chandrachud said. congratulated the petitioner who was also present in the Court along with his lawyer. His lawyer told the bench that many senior lawyers have offered to sponsor his fees.
The petitioner had cracked the JEE Advanced in his second and last attempt and had also approached the National Commission for Scheduled Castes, Jharkhand Legal Services Authority as well as the Madras High Court before approaching the Supreme Court.
