On Wednesday, the Supreme Court rescued an 18-year-old student by ordering IIT Bombay to grant him interim admission to an engineering course after he inadvertently lost his seat by clicking an incorrect link in the admissions process. online. Siddhant Batra, a native of Agra, had lost his seat to the four-year electrical engineering course at the prestigious IIT Bombay after he “inadvertently” clicked on a “wrong” link that he was destined to withdraw from the process.
A bank headed by Judge SK Kaul took note of the submissions by lawyer Pralhad Paranjpe on behalf of the student and asked IIT Bombay to grant him provisional admission.
The bank, also composed of judges Dinesh Maheshwari and Hrishikesh Roy, sent a notice to the prestigious institution and resolved Siddhant’s request for a hearing after the winter holidays. Paranjpe said admission would be subject to the final decision of the supreme court on the student’s statement. The guilty plea was filed in the higher court after the Bombay High Court dismissed the petition by noting the IIT filings that it cannot intervene at this stage as all seats for the course were full and furthermore, they had to follow the admission rules.
He said Siddhant could run again next year for JEE (Advanced).
The High Court had initially ordered the IIT to consider Siddhant’s petition, after it was approached, as a proxy and to issue the appropriate orders.
Siddhant, who had achieved the All India (AIR) rank of 270 on the JEE Advanced exams and secured admission, claimed in his plea that he had clicked the wrong link that he should remove his seat. He intended to freeze the seat, said the plea.
On November 23, a higher court divisional court dismissed his petition, noting that IIT had considered his representation and approved his order.
In his petition to the superior court, the student requested instructions from the IIT to consider his case on humanitarian grounds and requested the creation of an additional seat to make up for his loss.
Siddhant, who lives with his grandparents after the death of his parents, said in the guilty plea that he had worked hard through thick and thin to pass the IIT JEE exams.
The petition said that he had lost his father as a child and was raised by his mother, who died in 2018.
According to his request, while completing the admission process online, he came across a page with the option ‘freeze’, which he thought meant confirming the seat and the completion of his admission process.
“On October 31, 2020, when browsing the IIT portal for more updates, he came across a link containing a statement that said ‘I would like to withdraw from the JoSAA (Joint Seat Allocation Authority) seat allocation process.’ , ”The petition said.
In November 2020, when the final list of students was uploaded to the IIT portal, their name was not included.
The IIT, in its order, however, said that the withdrawal option was a “conscious” two-step process.
He said that candidates who wish to withdraw before the final round may do so and the ‘seat acceptance fee’ will be refunded, adding that once a candidate has withdrawn, their seat is canceled.
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