IIT Admission: Allahabad High Court comes to the aid of Dalit student by paying her seat allotment fees

In a humane gesture, the Allahabad High Court on Monday came to the aid of a Dalit student whose admission to Indian Institute of Technology (BHU) had hit a roadblock after she was unable to pay ₹15,000 seat allotment fees due to financial constraints (Sanskriti Ranjan v. Joint Seat Allocation Authority).Single judge Justice Dinesh Kumar Singh volunteered to contribute the fee and handed over the money to the petitioner girl after court hours."Considering the facts of the present case, where a young bright dalit girl student has come before this Court seeking equity jurisdiction to enable to pursue her dream of getting admitted in the I.I.T., this Court on its own has volunteered to contribute Rs.15,000 the fee for allocation of the seat. The said amount has been handed over to the petitioner after court hours today itself," the Court noted in its order.The Court also directed the University to create a supernumerary seat for the petitioner, if there is no seat vacant and asked the petitioner to report to the campus within three days, along with the necessary documents for admission."If there is no seat vacant in the said discipline, IIT BHU is directed to create a supernumerary post, which shall be subject to the admission of the petitioner being regularized in the event of any seat falling vacant in future as a result of exigency which may arise in the course of admission process," the order said. .The petitioner Sanskriti Ranjan had secured 95.6 percent marks in 10th and 94 percent marks in 12th. She appeared in the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) for selection in the IITs and was successful in clearing the exam. She secured 92.77 percentile marks in JEE Mains Examination and was ranked 2,062 rank as Scheduled Caste category candidate. Thereafter, the petitioner had applied for JEE Advanced and cleared the same with 1,469 rank in Scheduled Caste category.The counsel for petitioner informed the Court that Ranjan was not able to pay the amount of ₹15,000 for seat acceptance as her father has been diagnosed with chronic kidney decease and was advised to undergo kidney transplant.It was further submitted that petitioner and her father had written to Joint Seat Allocation Authority many times seeking extension of time for payment of fees but received no reply..Reliance was also placed on the recent case of Prince Jaibir Singh before the Supreme Court in which the top court had come to the rescue of a 17-year-old Dalit student who had qualified for Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Bombay but missed out on a seat because of failure to remit seat acceptance fees on time due to technical glitches. The apex court in that case had exercised its powers under Article 142 of the Constitution, to direct the creation of a seat in IIT for the boy after it was pointed out that student was unable to pay fees on time due to technical faults on the part of the bank for which he was not responsible.The apex court had also said that the authorities should not take such a wooden approach in such cases but should understand the ground realities."Don’t take this wooden approach. Please understand the realities of social life, the issues on ground. The student did not have money, then sister had to transfer money and then there were technical issues. The boy cleared the exam. If it was his negligence then we would not have asked you," the top court had remarked.The High Court took note of the Supreme Court order and adopted a similar approach. It directed the Joint Seat Allocation Authority and IIT BHU to admit the petitioner in Mathematics and Computing [5 years, Bachelor and Master of Technology (Dual Degree)] by creating a supernumerary post as an interim measure."It shall be subject to the admission of the petitioner being regularized in the event of any seat falling vacant in future as a result of exigency which may arise in the course of admission process. If no seat falls vacant, the petitioner shall continue her studies for Mathematics and Computing (5 years, Bachelor and Master of Technology (Dual Degree)) course against a supernumerary seat," the Court made it clear..[Read Allahabad High Court Order]