An 18-year-old student lost his seat to a 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.
The student, Siddhant Batra, who is a native of Agra, has approached the Supreme Court seeking instructions for the institution to admit him after the IIT said he cannot intervene at this stage as all seats for the course They were full and the admission rules had to be followed.
He said Batra could apply again next year for JEE (Advanced).
The Bombay High Court had initially ordered the IIT to consider Batra’s petition, after it approached her earlier this month, as a proxy and to approve the corresponding orders.
Batra, who scored an All India (AIR) rank of 270 on the JEE Advanced exams and gained admission, claimed in his plea that he had clicked the wrong link that was meant to remove his seat. Batra intended to freeze the seat, the plea said.
On November 23, a division bank of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Judge GS Kulkarni dismissed Batra’s petition, noting that IIT had considered his representation and approved his order.
In his petition to the Supreme Court, Batra requested instructions from the IIT to consider his case on humanitarian grounds and requested the creation of an additional seat to undo his loss.
Batra, who lives with her grandparents after the death of her parents, said in the guilty plea that she had worked hard through thick and thin to pass the IIT JEE exams.
The petition, filed through attorney Pralhad Paranjpe, said that Batra had lost his father as a child and was raised by his mother, who passed away in 2018.
Per his request, Batra, while completing the online admission process, came across a page with the ‘freeze’ option, which he thought meant confirming the seat and the completion of his admission process.
“On October 31, 2020, when Batra was 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 ‘, ”The petition said.
According to the statement, Batra inadvertently clicked on this link and stated “IIT Bombay, Electrical Engineering” as reasons for the withdrawal. He added that Batra never intended to withdraw his admission.
In November 2020, when the final list of students was uploaded to the IIT portal, Batra’s 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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