Bombay IIT should admit Dalit students who fail to pay fees on time in 48 hours: Supreme Court
The Supreme Court has given a big relief to a student of the Dalit community who could not pay the fees on time due to a glitch in the credit card. The Supreme Court today ordered Bombay IIT to admit this student in the next 48 hours. The Supreme Court also said that the seat of another student should not be taken for the seat of a Dalit student, but a separate seat should be made for him. It is worth noting that due to non-working credit card, this student could not deposit the fees, due to which he was not admitted to IIT Bombay. The Supreme Court said that the court should sometimes rise above the law because who knows that after 10 years he may become the leader of our country.
A bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and BV Nagarathna had directed the counsel appearing for the Center to obtain admission details in IIT Bombay and explore the possibility of the student getting admission. The court said that he is a Dalit student, who missed admission through no fault of his own. He has passed an IIT exam and was about to take admission in IIT Bombay. How many such children are capable of doing this? The court must sometimes rise above the law. Who knows that after 10 years he will be the leader of our country.
The bench had told advocate Sonal Jain, appearing for IIT Bombay and the Joint Seat Allocation Authority, that they should explore the possibility of accommodating the student by November 22 and take instructions about the seat position in IIT Bombay. The bench had said that but it is a human matter and sometimes we should rise above the law. Along with this, the bench asked the counsel for the government to take directions and assured that his order would not be treated as precedent.
Amol Chitale, appearing for petitioner Prince Jaibir Singh, who secured 864th rank in the reserved category in the entrance examination, had said that if he does not get admission in IIT Bombay, he is ready to take admission in any other IIT institute. Justice DY Chandrachud said that the young Dalit student is on the verge of losing a valuable seat which has been allotted to him in IIT Bombay. The sufferings of the appellant have taken him from Allahabad to Kharagpur then to Bombay and then to the national capital. It would be a blasphemy of justice to deny admission to a young Dalit student for non-payment of fees. Therefore, we are of the view that this is a fit case under Article 142 of the Constitution at the interim stage.
