New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday exercised its extraordinary powers to aid a Dalit student, getting admission to the Indian Institute of Technology Dhanbad, (IIT Dhanbad) after he had failed to deposit Rs 17,500 as fees within the time frame for depositing the institute’s fees.
A bench of the Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud, Justice J B Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra said that ‘no meritorious student must be deprived of education just because he could not deposit a fee of Rs 17,500’ and directed the Indian Institute of Technology Dhanbad, (IIT Dhanbad) to create a seat for him for admission to electrical engineering course.
The order comes on a petition by a Dalit student who appeared for the Joint Entrance Exam (JEE) 2024 and secured a rank of 1455, and was given a seat in IIT Dhanbad in an electrical engineering course, but because of his inability to pay tuition fees in time and he was denied admission.
The court in its order recorded that “This was his second attempt and last chance to secure admission. The petitioner has said that his father is a daily labourer and the family income is below the poverty line. The time frame for payment of fees and uploading documents was June 5. Petitioner says his parents arranged fees by 4;55 pm on June 5 but by the time he could upload the fees.”
The court also noted that the petitioner made all efforts to secure admission to IIT Dhanbad, however, the authorities did not oblige, forcing the student to approach the Supreme Court for help.
The court said facts reveal that there is no dispute about three aspects, allotment of seats in the electrical engineering course at IIT dhanbad, the Scheduled caste status of the petitioner and steps taken by him to comply to pay fees within the time frame. The petitioner is a talented student who belongs to a marginalised group, but the talented student has been left in the lurch. Under Article 142, we direct that the petitioner should be granted admission to IIT Dhanbad. The petitioner will be admitted to the same batch.”
After the hearing, the court wished the student luck for his future saying ‘all the best, acha kariye (do well).’
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