NEW DELHI: Invoking its extraordinary power under Article 142 of the Constitution to do complete justice, Supreme Court on Monday came to the rescue of a Dalit youth who could not get admission in IIT-Dhanbad because he could not pay the admission fee of Rs 17,500 on time to secure his seat. Observing that “it cannot allow such a talented boy to go away” and miss the opportunity after cracking the tough entrance exam, a bench of Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra directed that the petitioner be admitted to the electrical engineering course.It directed IIT-Dhanbad to create an additional seat to accommodate him without disturbing other students who have been admitted.
“We are affirmatively of the view that a talented student like the petitioner should not be left in the lurch. The power of the court under Article 142 is to address such situations,” the SC said in its order and directed that the petitioner be admitted in the same batch in which he would have been taken in and be given all benefits such as hostel admission. Eighteen year old Atul Kumar had moved the SC as the last resort after he missed the deadline to pay the requisite fee. He had earlier approached National Commission for Scheduled Castes, Jharkhand Legal Services Authority and Madras high court to save his hard-earned seat but failed to get relief. The SC’s intervention ensured that he will be able to pursue his engineering dream in IIT-Dhanbad. The counsel appearing for the IIT Seat Allocation Authority opposed Kumar’s plea saying his login details indicated that he was getting all information regarding the date and time for making payments and he was well aware of the requirement and the deadline. He said that all the students were informed about the need to make the payment on the date of mock interview, much prior to the last date. The Authority said that the student was sent repeated reminders through SMS and WhatsApp and he should not take a stand that he was not aware about the due date.
The bench said if the boy was receiving and responding to the messages then it showed that he was diligent and concerned about the admission. It said the real problem was that he could not manage to pay before the 5 PM deadline. “Why are you opposing so much? You should see if something could be done and find a way out,” the bench told the Seat Allocation Authority. CJI Chandrachud congratulated the youth, who was personally present in court and asked him to do well in studies.