'We Can't Let Such A Talented Boy Go Away:' Supreme Court On Dalit Student's Admission To IIT

The Supreme Court granted relief to a Dalit student who could not pay the Rs 17,500 fee on time and lost his admission to the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT). A bench comprising CJI DY Chandrachud, Justice JB Pardiwala, and Justice Manoj Misra was directed to admit the petitioner to IIT Dhandad in the Electrical Engineering course.

The court directed the creation of a supernumerary post for the student’s admission so that the admission of other students would not be disturbed.

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The petitioner is the son of a daily wage worker in Uttar Pradesh and hails from a family living below the poverty line who collected Rs 17,500 from the villagers on June 24 by 4:45 pm but could not submit the online payment before the deadline of 5 pm.

The petitioner 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 crowdfunded the amount from the villagers.

The counsel appearing for the IIT Seat Allocation Authority opposed the plea, saying that the student’s login details indicated that he was logged in at 3 PM and it was not a last-minute login. Also, the petitioner was informed about the need to make the payment on the date of the mock interview, much prior to the last date, said the counsel for the authority, adding that he was sent repeated reminders through SMS and WhatsApp. This submission did not appeal to the bench, which said that the authority should be trying to find relief.

“We cannot allow such a young, talented boy to go away,” CJI DY Chandrachud observed.

“Why are you opposing so much? You should see if something could be done,” Justice Pardiwala told the counsel for the authority.

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.

“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 of the Constitution to do complete justice is to address such situations,” the Court observed in the order.