Judge pays fee of Dalit student, orders IIT to admit her

Lucknow, Nov 30: In a heart-warming gesture, a judge of the Lucknow bench of Allahabad High Court gave Rs 15,000 to a poor Dalit student who could not deposit the fees for allotment of a seat in IIT(BHU) after cracking it through joint entrance examination (JEE) advanced.

The bench of Justice Dinesh Kumar Singh directed the Joint Seat Allocation Authority and IIT(BHU) to admit the student in mathematics and computing (five-year, bachelor and master of technology, dual degree) course.

The bench also directed the BHU to create a supernumerary seat for the Dalit student if there is no seat vacant. The bench asked the student to report at BHU within three days along with the necessary documents for admission.

The bench passed the above order on a petition moved by the student, Sanskriti Ranjan, in person on Monday. She had requested the bench that the Joint Seat Allocation Authority and IIT (BHU) may be directed to grant her time to deposit Rs 15,000 fees.

She pleaded in the petition that she belonged to the Scheduled Caste category. She had secured 95.6 per cent marks in high school and 94 per cent in intermediate.

She appeared in the JEE for selection in IITs. She was successful in clearing the exam. She secured 92.77 per cent marks in JEE mains examination and secured her rank at 2062 as SC category candidate.

Thereafter, the petitioner had applied for JEE advanced on September 16, 2021 and cleared it on October 15, 2021, with 1,469 rank in Scheduled Caste category.

The petitioner was allotted a seat at IIT (BHU) Varanasi for mathematics and computing (five-year, bachelor and master of technology dual degree) in the counselling. However, she could not arrange Rs 15,000 fees to be paid before the scheduled date.

Considering the peculiar circumstances of the matter, the judge himself volunteered to hand over Rs 15,000 to the student after court's hour and ensured in his order that she is given admission in the IIT (BHU) within the next three days.