Refrain from taking ‘wooden approach’, says court for the 17-year-old who could not pay ‘seat acceptance fee’ on time due to technical reasons
Team Clarion
NEW DELHI — The Supreme Court on Monday asked Indian Institute of Technology Bombay to create a seat for a 17-year-old Dalit student who had been unable to pay ‘seat acceptance fees’ on time due to technical reasons.
A bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and AS Bopanna asked the institute “understand the realities of social life and issues on ground” and refrain from taking “wooden approach”.
“The student did not have money, then sister had to transfer money and then there were technical issues. The boy cleared the exam. If it was his negligence then we would not have asked you,” said the top court.
Exercising powers under Article 142 of the Constitution, the bench directed the Joint Seat Allocation Authority (JOSAA) to allot a seat for the student, noting that it will be a great travesty of justice if the student misses out on admission due to no fault of his.
The student could not upload the requisite documents within two days of allocation of seats in the Civil Engineering branch of the institute on 27 October as he fell short of money.
On October 30, his sister transferred money to him but he could not make the payment due to technical reasons even though he tried multiple times.
“Petitioner was unable to make the payment due to a technical error at the end of his card issuing bank, viz., State Bank of India,” the plea said.
On October 31, he made an unsuccessful attempt at a cyber cafe and by then the deadline was over.
He then wrote emails to the authorities at IIT but they went unresponsive. Later, he physically went to the campus at IIT Kharagpur but officials there said they could not process his request.
The student, belonging to a Scheduled Caste, then moved Bombay High Court for relief but the court took a technical view and dismissed his writ petition.
He eventually approached the Supreme Court which granted him desired relief even as JOSAA informed the Supreme Court that all seats have been filled and no vacant seats are available.
