Kumar Bahukhandi
Failed to deposit mandatory fees by the June 24 deadline.
New Delhi: In an important decision, the Supreme Court directed IIT Dhanbad to admit a Dalit student who could not get admission due to not being able to pay the fees on time. Due to financial constraints, the student was not able to pay his fees. Later, he approached the Supreme Court with this matter. Atul Kumar, 18, son of a daily wage laborer and resident of Muzaffarnagar district of Uttar Pradesh, cleared the JEE exam in his last attempt. He was allotted a seat in the Electronics Engineering department but lost his seat due to not being able to pay the fees by the deadline of June 24.
Despite the financial crunch, Atul did not give up and first knocked the doors of Jharkhand High Court and then Madras High Court. Finally he reached the Supreme Court. During the hearing on Monday, a bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud said, “We cannot lose such a young talent. He went to the legal shelter of Jharkhand, then reached the legal services of Chennai and finally came to the High Court. A Dalit boy was turned away at every door.
Atul’s lawyer said that his father earns Rs 450 as daily wages. He said, “Arranging Rs 17,500 was a big task for him. Father raised this amount from the villagers.” IIT Dhanbad’s lawyer claimed that National Informatics Center (NIC) sent an SMS to Atul Kumar and IIT had informed him about making the payment through two WhatsApp chats. The lawyer said, “He used to login every day.” On this, Justice Pardiwala told IIT Dhanbad, “Why are you protesting so much? Why don’t you try to find a way out? Show the seat allotment slip to show that you wanted him to make the payment? And if he did, then nothing else was needed.”
He is an excellent student. He was stopped only because of the lack of Rs 17,000,” Chief Justice Chandrachud said. The Supreme Court noted that the deadline for depositing the fees was 5 pm on June 24. Atul’s parents had arranged the fees by 4.45 pm, but when they made the payment, the portal started malfunctioning and was shut down at 5 pm.
