New Delhi: Following direction from the Supreme Court, the Ministry of Education and the Joint Seat Allocation Authority (JoSAA) are set to create a seat for the 17-year-old Dalit student, Prince Jaibir Singh, in IIT-Bombay. The student lost his chance of admission to the institute due to a technical error.
The IIT authorities have been asked to create a seat in the Bombay institute in the next 48 hours without disturbing the admission of any other student.
“Having regard to facts of the case, it would be a great travesty of justice if the young Dalit student is denied admission for non-payment of fees to IIT-Bombay after having tried to do so. Hence, we are of the view that it’s a fit case of Article 142 in an interim stage,” the two-judge Bench said in its order.
Prince had knocked on the Supreme Court doors after the Bombay High Court dismissed his petition on grounds that he failed to approach the authorities for grievance redressal within the stipulated time.
The student, with a Scheduled Caste rank of 864 in the JEE Advanced exam, was granted a seat in Civil Engineering at IIT-Bombay based on the JoSAA counselling.
On October 29, when Singh attempted to pay the fee to confirm his seat, he found that his credit card did not work as there wasn’t sufficient funds on it. He then borrowed from his sister and tried multiple times to make the payment.
But Singh failed in his effort due to a technical snag. According to rules, non-payment of fee is counted as a renouncement of the seat under the computerised JoSAA process.
“Based in UP, the student borrowed money to travel to the office of the second respondent (JoSAA) in Kharagpur. Bombay HC was moved under Article 226 seeking a writ to accept the fees and facilitate his admission. After being unsuccessful, the student moved the Supreme Court,” the Bench comprising Justices DY Chandrachud and AS Bopanna said while taking note of the issue.
The court said that it would be a travesty of justice if the student was denied a seat just because he didn’t pay the fee. “There has to be some modality, else only students from the metropolitan city will join IITs,” Justice DY Chandrachud said.
The court came down heavily on the authorities for not providing the students with an alternative to online payment of the fee. “You must have a robust mechanism. Everyone does not have multiple credit cards,” the court said.
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