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.
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.