The Supreme Court on Monday directed that a student who lost out on his seat at Indian Institute of Technology Dhanbad after failing by a few minutes to meet the deadline to pay the requisite fee of Rs 17,500 be granted admission. “We are of the view that a talented student should not be left in the lurch. We direct that admission be granted to him in IIT Dhanbad,” a bench of Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra ordered. The bench directed that the student, Atul Kumar, belonging to the Scheduled Caste category, should be admitted in the same batch. It said that a supernumerary seat should be created for him and that no existing student should be disturbed in the process. The court also said he would be entitled to all consequential benefits including hostel allotment. “All the best! Achha kariye,” the CJI told the candidate as his lawyer informed the bench that senior advocates had decided to pay his fee. Kumar had approached the court saying his father was a daily-wage labourer and that by the time he arranged the fee amount of Rs 17,500 for the electrical engineering course at IIT Dhanbad which was allotted to him, the server of the portal had stopped responding. He initially approached the Madras High Court since IIT Madras was the JEE Advanced exam authority for the year. After the high court said the relief sought by Kumar was not under its jurisdiction, he approached the Supreme Court. While hearing it on September 25, the apex court issued a notice to the joint seat allocation authority (IIT admissions) at IIT Madras. On Monday, the counsel appearing for the IIT authority said his login details indicated that he had been logged in at 3 pm, meaning he did not log in at the last minute. “From 3.12 pm he was just viewing his result,” without making any attempt to pay, the counsel said. He added that Kumar was informed about the requisite payment on the date of the mock interview itself. Justice Pardiwala told the counsel, “Why are you opposing so much? You should see if something could be done.” Kumar’s counsel told the bench that this was his last chance to secure admission, as only two attempts are permissible. Justice Pardiwala asked the authority’s counsel if the seat allotment intimation slip was on record. The judge said he was asking so “because you have said that the seat allotment intimation slip instructed for the payment of Rs 17,500". "So everything was in order. If he had deposited the Rs 17,500 before the scheduled time, you would have proceeded to admit him or not?,” he said. The authority’s counsel said the slip was not on record but added, “Even if he (Kumar) had pushed one button, we would have given him one day more…” The CJI said, “He is such a bright student. Look at his log sheets. It is no way he would not press the button… The only thing which stopped him was the inability to pop up Rs 17,500. And as judges of the SC, we should ensure that no child loses admission because they don’t have Rs 17,500.”
