Poverty and ‘Complete Justice’: Article 142

The Constitution of India will help a student who cannot afford to pay. Can we believe it? Article 142 is a unique provision that grants the Supreme Court the power to pass any necessary order to secure ‘complete justice’. Its draft, Article 118, was adopted by the Constituent Assembly without any debate. This meant that demarking its scope was left entirely to the Court.

Then, higher education departments or government-funded universities and national schools should have an idea and implement a scheme to pay poor students.

See the judgment of the SC 2024 INSC 749 “Atul Kumar Petitioner Versus the Chairman (Joint Seat Allocation Respondents Authority) and Others”. The problem is with a young man Atul. He had scored well in the entrance exam but had been unable to make the payment of the admission fee of ₹17,500 in time. It’s great that the Supreme Court granted Atul Kumar, a Dalit student, admission to the Indian Institute of Technology in Dhanbad. It is not a dispute and not a litigation, but a problem. They have thousands of lakhs of crores but this young man has to knock on the doors of the Supreme Court.

This meritorious student belongs to the Scheduled Caste category. He appeared for the JEE (Advanced) 2024 Examination and secured a rank of 1455 in his category. He was allotted a seat at the Indian Institute of Technology Dhanbad for a four-year Bachelor of Technology course in Electrical Engineering. This was the second attempt and, therefore, the last chance for the petitioner to secure admission since only two attempts were permissible. The petitioner has disclosed that his father is a daily wager. The petitioner completed his higher secondary education in Khatauli, District Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh. The family income is below the poverty line.

The time frame for the completion of online reporting, including the payment of fees and uploading of documents was 5 pm on 24 June 2024. The petitioner has stated that his parents arranged the funds required for the payment of fees. The fees were deposited in his brother’s account by 4.45 pm. The petitioner states that he logged into the portal of the first respondent at 4.45 pm applied in the ‘float category’ of admission and uploaded the documents. The portal closed at 5 pm and his payment was not processed.

The petitioner thereafter addressed an email to the first respondent. A response was received on 26 June 2024 from the IIT Bombay Office for JEE (Advanced) redirecting the candidate to the organizing IIT, which is IIT Madras. Eventually, these attempts did not bear any fruit.

The Supreme Court accordingly ordered and directed that the petitioner should be granted admission to IIT Dhanbad against the seat which was allotted to him in the branch of Electrical Engineering. The petitioner will be admitted to the same batch to which he would have been admitted in pursuance of the order of allotment. The petitioner is ready and willing to pay fees of Rs 17,500, which may be paid personally at the time when admission is granted to him. A supernumerary seat shall be created for the petitioner, if so required, to comply with this order and no existing student shall be disturbed in consequence. The petitioner would be entitled to all the consequential benefits of admission, including allotment of hostel accommodation and other facilities.  Since the admission of the petitioner has been delayed for no fault of his, we request the Director of IIT Dhanbad to use his good offices to ensure that the petitioner can duly complete the course work for the period that has already elapsed during this academic year. This will ensure that the petitioner is abreast of his class and does not suffer for the delay in granting him admission. (Based on Para 8 of the Supreme Court)

“A talented student like the petitioner who belongs to a marginalized group of citizens and has done everything to secure admission should not be left in the lurch,” the Order said. “The power of this Court under Article 142 of the Constitution to do substantial justice is meant precisely to cover such a situation.”

The Constitution has Article 142 with a phrase called ‘complete justice’. The IIM of Ahmedabad studied an empirical study, which revealed that in 1579 cases between 1950 and 2023, most of which were civil cases. The utility of this phrase ‘complete justice’ has been translated into Article 142 as a writ petition that used the constitutional proviso. The study found that the Court has explicitly used its powers under Article 142 in only 791 cases.

We need to thank Dr. B R Ambedkar for the best Article of the Constitution – Article 32, it is right to remedy.  What is the one-word answer to the most important Article in the Constitution?  Unhesitatingly Article 32. (The author is a Professor at Mahindra University, Hyderabad)