18-Yr-Old Loses IIT Bombay Seat After Clicking ‘Wrong Link’

The 18-year-old has moved the Supreme Court asking IIT Bombay to admit him to the course. 

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An 18-year-old student from Agra has filed a petition in the Supreme Court asking the Indian Institute of Technology at Bombay to admit him to the institution after he “inadvertently” clicked on link which was meant to withdraw from the admission process, reported news agency PTI.

Siddhant Batra moved the Supreme Court after IIT Bombay said that it cannot admit him to the four-year electrical engineering course as all seats for the course had already been filled and since rules related to admission had been followed.

Batra had earlier moved the Bombay High Court, which first asked IIT Bombay to consider the student’s admission.

However, a Division Bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice GS Kulkarni dismissed the petition on 23 November, saying that his petition had already been considered by IIT Bombay.

How Did It Happen?

Batra, who had secured an All India Rank of 270 in JEE Advanced 2020, has been living with his grandparents following the death of both his parents. In the petition, the 18-year-old says that he had worked hard against all odds to crack the entrance exam, meant for admission to IITs.

According to the petition, Batra was checking the IIT portal on 31 October, when he saw a link that stated “I would like to withdraw from the seat allocation process of JoSAA (Joint Seat Allocation Authority).”

Although Batra clicked on this link and stated ‘IIT Bombay, Electrical Engineering’ as the reason, he maintains that withdrawing from the admission process was never his intention.

(With inputs from PTI)