Supreme Court permits IIT Kharagpur student's transfer to IIT Roorkee on mental health grounds

The Supreme Court on Thursday permitted transfer of a student from Indian Institute of Technology at Kharagpur (IIT Kharagpur) to Indian Institute of Technology at Roorkee (IIT Roorkee) on mental health grounds.

A Bench of Justices BV Nagarathna and R Mahadevan passed the order, invoking the Court's extraordinary powers under Article 142 of the Constitution to do complete justice.

The Court also clarified that the order would not be treated as a precedent.

The petitioner, a Bachelor of Architecture student at IIT Kharagpur, had approached the Supreme Court seeking a transfer after being diagnosed with recurrent depressive disorder. The Court had earlier directed an AIIMS medical evaluation of the petitioner and passed interim orders in the matter, as reported earlier.

He had earlier sought migration to IIT Delhi, but that request could not be considered due to differences in the Bachelor of Architecture curriculum. He subsequently sought transfer to IIT Roorkee instead.

Senior Advocate Shobha Gupta, appearing for the petitioner, submitted that he was availing treatment at PGI Chandigarh and that similar facilities were not available at Kharagpur.

Advocate Shaiwal Srivastava, appearing for IIT Roorkee, submitted that the institute had no formal rules governing inter-IIT transfers, with each IIT being governed by its own Senate. He further submitted that if the Court grants relief, the petitioner could join the first year of the Bachelor of Architecture programme at IIT Roorkee.

The Court, after taking into account the petitioner's health condition and the distance between Chandigarh and Kharagpur, held that the interest of justice would be served by directing IIT Kharagpur to issue the necessary transfer and migration certificates.

"The interest of justice will served in the instant case if direction is issued to first respondent IIT Kharagpur to issue necessary transfer and migration certificates so that he could take transfer / migration and admission in IIT Roorkee," the Court ordered.

The Bench directed that the exercise be completed within one week, noting that the current academic session had commenced on July 17.

The Court clarified that the petitioner would be required to comply with all requirements regarding the fee structure at IIT Roorkee.

With these observations, the petition was disposed of.

Senior Advocate Shobha Gupta appeared for the petitioner.

Advocate Shaiwal Srivastava appeared for IIT Roorkee

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