SC directs IIT Bombay to create seat for Dalit student who failed payment

New Delhi: The Supreme Court of India directed IIT (Indian Institute of Technology), Bombay, to create a seat for a Dalit student, serving relief to the 17-year-old who nearly lost admission because he couldn't pay the admission fee on time, NDTV reported.

Prince Jaibeer Singh, the candidate, was turned away earlier by the Bombay High Court, but the top court said it would be a "travesty of justice" if he was denied admission and failed to receive help from the nation's highest court of law.

The Uttar Pradesh's Ghaziabad native got selected for the civil engineering branch at the IIT Bombay on October 27 but could not pay the acceptance fee of Rs 15,000, which has to be paid online initially to secure the seat. Though he failed to secure the amount earlier, he gathered the cash later, but some glitches on the website hindered the payment.

Later he approached the High court but got turned away. But the SC on Monday ordered the IIT to create a seat in 48 hours without disrupting others who have been already admitted into the course.

Prince reacted that God has listened to his prayers, and after the past few tough days, he is very happy at the moment. He has secured an all India rank of 25,894 while an 864 in the Scheduled Caste category. He was appearing for the second time after he couldn't qualify last year. Though he joined an engineering institute in Allahabad then, he continued preparing for IIT entrance.

Prince further said that IIT has always been his dream, and his aim in life is working on defence technology. He wants to modernise India's defence sector so that she won't have to depend on other nations for defence equipment.