SC asks IIT Dhanbad to grant admission to Dalit youth who lost seat for not depositing fees

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday came to the rescue of a Dalit youth, who had lost his seat in IIT Dhanbad after missing the deadline to deposit a fee, by asking the institute to admit him to the BTech course. “We cannot allow such a young talented boy to go away. He cannot be left in lurch,” a bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra said.

The top court used its extraordinary powers under Article 142 of the Constitution in asking the IIT Dhanbad to admit Atul Kumar into its Electrical Engineering BTech course.

“We are of the view that a talented student like the petitioner who belongs to a marginalised group who did all to secure admission should not be left out... we direct that candidate is granted admission to IIT Dhanbad and let him be in the same batch to which he would have been granted admission if the fees would have been paid,” the bench said in the order.

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Article 142 of the Constitution empowers the top court to pass any order in the interest of justice. The parents of Atul Kumar, 18, failed to deposit Rs 17,500 as the acceptance fee by June 24, the deadline for depositing the requisite fees for blocking the seat.

The parents of the youth also approached the National Commission for Scheduled Castes, Jharkhand Legal Services Authority and the Madras High Court to save the hard-earned seat. Kumar, the son of a daily wager, hails from a below poverty line (BPL) family living at Titora village in Muzaffarnagar district of Uttar Pradesh.

The National Commission for Scheduled Castes also expressed its inability to help him. As he had taken JEE at a centre in Jharkhand, the youth had also moved the Jharkhand State Legal Services Authority which suggested him to approach the Madras High Court as it was IIT Madras that had conducted the exam. The high court had asked him to approach the top court.