Late by a few min, Dalit daily wager's son misses IIT seat

NEW DELHI: The joy and pride of a poor Dalit boy's parents on him clearing JEE Advanced to bag an electrical engineering seat in IIT Dhanbad turned into tears when he narrowly missed the deadline to deposit Rs 17,500 as the acceptance fee, a princely amount that became an even bigger burden for the BPL household because of the stiff deadline of four days.

After knocking on several doors - National Commission for Scheduled Castes, Jharkhand Legal Services Authority and Madras high court - to save the hard-earned seat, 18-year-old Atul Kumar moved Supreme Court, urging that it step in to save his dream to pull his family out of poverty.

He told a bench of CJI D Y Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra on Tuesday that he had cleared JEE Advanced in his second and last attempt, and that unless the court directed his admission, he would not be able take another shot at the coveted seat.

The bench did not require persuasion to entertain Atul's writ petition seeking admission, and sought response from Joint Seat Allocation Authority, IIT Admissions, IIT Madras, which had conducted this year's exam.

Bearing in mind the hardship the meritorious boy had gone through, the CJI had a word of comfort, "We will help you as far as possible. But what were you doing for the last three months as the fee deposit deadline expired on June 24?"

The boy's counsel narrated the grim battle waged by him, his brother and parents to accomplish the Herculean task of arranging Rs 17,500 by 5 pm of June 24, that too in just four days after allotment of the seat in IIT Dhanbad.

Atul and his below poverty line family reside in Titora village in Uttar Pradesh's Muzaffarnagar district.

His father Rajendra, a daily wager, took financial support from friends and relatives to enable Atul to complete his school education.

Rajendra could arrange the money in Atul's brother's bank account by 4.45 pm on June 24. Racing against time, Atul uploaded the requisite documents on the admission website but by the time he proceeded to pay the fee, the clock had ticked past 5 pm. The portal would not accept the fee deposit and the seat allotted to him was cancelled.

He approached National Commission for Scheduled Castes, which expressed its inability to help him. As he had taken JEE at a centre in Jharkhand, he sought help from Jharkhand State Legal Services Authority to file a petition in HC. But he was advised to move Madras HC as it was IIT Madras that had conducted the exam. HC, in turn, directed him to SC.

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