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New Delhi: The Delhi
High Court has ruled that students should neither be deprived of
their right to education on bonafide mistakes nor penalised to the
extent that their admission is cancelled.
Bonafide mistakes of students while submitting entrance form
online can be ignored, said the court, particularly if the
students belonged to areas where proper computer and internet
facilities were unavailable, and more so when they had secured a
seat in the entrance exam.
Justice G.S. Sistani, allowing a student from a village in Haryana
to join the National Institute of Technology (NIT) in Kurukshetra,
has observed that bonafide mistake of the student cannot be
penalised to the extent that the admission granted to him should
be cancelled.
The court's observation came while hearing a plea filed by Rohit
Yadav who, while applying online for AIEEE 2012 (All India
Engineering Entrance Examination) conducted by the CBSE (Central
Board of Secondary Education) filled up the wrong date of birth
mistakenly.
Yadav, after clearing AIEEE, secured a seat in NIT. But the
institute denied him admission citing variance in date of birth.
The court, passing the order, said: "Having regard to the facts of
this case, I am of the view that on account of the bonafide
mistake of the petitioner (Yadav), the petitioner cannot be
penalised to the extent that the admission granted to him should
be cancelled".
The court observed that "on account of this mistake to debar him
would amount to travesty of justice".
"The petitioner had no intention to mislead the NIT or gain any
unfair advantage. The certificate from CBSE is a genuine document.
Thus the petitioner cannot be debarred," the order passed last
week said.
Justice Sistani mentioned that students from villages that do not
get continuous electricity cannot be deprived of their right to
education.
"The court cannot lose track of the fact that Delhi is not India.
There are lakhs of students in rural areas, like the petitioner
herein, who have the potential, and the students from rural
background are not less intelligent than the students from
affluent background," the court said.
The court took into note that Yadav came from an humble
background, lived in a village and did not have access either to a
computer or internet.
"In towns, people are familiar with computer, laptop, iPads and
other forms of computers, which provide them access to vast
information at their fingertips. On the contrary, students from
remote villages, who are away from towns, who do not get
continuous electricity, cannot be deprived of their right to
education, more so when the student has secured a seat," the court
opined.
Yadav, not having the benefit of a computer, went to a cyber cafe
in Rewari in Haryana to fill up the form online, as per the
petition. The cafe operator committed a mistake and mentioned
Yadav's date of brith as April 4, 1994 instead of April 8, 1994.
CBSE July 2 allotted Yadav a seat in the electronics and
communication branch. But during verification of the documents by
the NIT, it was found that his date of birth mentioned in the
online form varied with that on original date of birth
certificate.
Going through the documents, NIT denied admission to him in any of
the colleges despite his having succeeded in the examination and
securing 75th rank. Following the rejection, he moved high court.
The high court, allowing him admission in NIT, asked CBSE that in
case it was not possible to grant him admission in NIT Kurukshetra,
he should be given admission in electronic and communication
engineering in any of its other colleges.
(Garima Tyagi can be contacted at garima.t@ians.in)
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