Under Article 142 of the Constitution, can the Supreme Court direct admission to an IIT seat for a Scheduled Caste candidate whose online fee payment failed only because the portal closed before his payment was processed, despite the stipulated deadline having passed?

Constitution of India, 1950 — Art.142 — Educational admission — Substantial justice — Constitution of India, 1950 — Art.142 — IIT seat allotment — Substantial justice for diligent candidate — Held: A meritorious Scheduled Caste candidate whose log-in details showed diligent efforts to pay fees, with no conceivable reason why he would not have paid, is entitled to admission under Article 142 to do substantial justice, with a supernumerary seat created if required so that no existing student is disturbed. Admission to IIT Dhanbad directed, petition disposed of. (¶6, 7)

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WPC 609/2024 2024 INSC 749

Reportable

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA CIVIL ORIGINAL JURISDICTION

Writ Petition (Civil) No 609 of 2024

Atul Kumar Petitioner

Versus

The Chairman (Joint Seat Allocation Respondents Authority) and Others

ORDER

1 The petitioner is a meritorious student. He belongs to the Scheduled Caste

category. He appeared for the JEE (Advanced) 2024 Examination and secured

a rank of 1455 in his category. He was allotted a seat at the Indian Institute

of Technology Dhanbad for a four year Bachelor of Technology course in

Electrical Engineering. This was the second attempt and, therefore, the last

chance for the petitioner to secure admission since only two attempts are

permissible. The petitioner has disclosed that his father is a daily wager. The

petitioner completed his higher secondary education from Khatauli, District

Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh. The family income is below the poverty line.

Chetan Kumar

WPC 609/2024

2 The time frame for the completion of online reporting, including the payment

of fees and uploading of documents was till 5 pm on 24 June 2024. The

petitioner has stated that his parents arranged the funds required for the

payment of fees. The fees were deposited in his brother’s account by 4.45

pm. The petitioner states that he logged into the portal of the first

respondent at 4.45 pm and applied in the ‘float category’ of admission and

uploaded the documents. The portal closed at 5 pm and his payment was not

processed.

3 The petitioner thereafter addressed an email to the first respondent. A

response was received on 26 June 2024 from the IIT Bombay Office for JEE

(Advanced) redirecting the candidate to the organizing IIT, which is IIT

Madras. Eventually, these attempts did not bear any fruit.

4 The petitioner approached the Jharkhand High Court Legal Aid Service

Committee and he was directed to the Legal Services Committee of the

Madras High Court. A writ petition was instituted before the High Court of

Madras, but when the case came up for hearing, he was advised to approach

this Court.

5 The facts as they have been revealed before this Court indicate that there is

no dispute about three critical aspects: (i) the allotment of the seat in

Electrical Engineering to the petitioner at IIT Dhanbad; (ii) the Scheduled

Caste status of the petitioner; and (iii) the steps which were taken by the

WPC 609/2024

petitioner to comply with all formalities pursuant to the allotment to him of a

seat for the course.

6 Counsel appearing on behalf of the first respondent has furnished to the

Court the log-in details of the petitioner, which indicate that he was diligent

in accessing the portal and did everything within his power to secure the

realization of his admission. The petitioner logged in on 24 June 2024

between 15.12 hours and 16.57 hours, on as many as six occasions. This

evidently indicates that he was making earnest efforts to log into the portal.

There is no conceivable reason why the petitioner would not have done so if

he had the wherewithal to pay the fees of Rs 17,500. A talented student like

the petitioner who belongs to a marginalized group of citizens and has done

everything to secure admission should not be left in the lurch. The power of

this Court under Article 142 of the Constitution to do substantial justice is

meant precisely to cover such a situation.

7 We accordingly order and direct that the petitioner should be granted

admission to IIT Dhanbad against the seat which was allotted to him in the

branch of Electrical Engineering. The petitioner will be admitted to the same

batch to which he would have been admitted in pursuance of the order of

allotment. The petitioner is ready and willing to pay fees of Rs 17,500, which

may be paid over personally at the time when admission is granted to him. A

supernumerary seat shall be created for the petitioner, if so required, for the

purpose of complying with this order and no existing student shall be disturbed in consequence. The petitioner would be entitled to all the

consequential benefits of admission, including allotment of hostel

accommodation and other facilities.

8 Since the admission of the petitioner has been delayed for no fault of his, we

request the Director of IIT Dhanbad to use his good offices to ensure that the

petitioner can duly complete the course work for the period which has

already elapsed during this academic year. This will ensure that the

petitioner is abreast of his class and does not suffer for the delay in granting

him admission.

9 The Petition is disposed of in the above terms.

10 Pending applications, if any, stand disposed of.

….....…...….......…………………..CJI. [Dr Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud]

..…....…........……………….…........J. [J B Pardiwala]

..…....…........……………….…........J. [Manoj Misra]

New Delhi; September 30, 2024 CKB