Denied admission for not ‘freezing seat’, Chandigarh student to get full refund

The complainant’s admission was cancelled without prior notice and the fee was not refunded despite repeated requests

The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission-I has directed the Joint Admission Committee (JAC), Delhi, and Delhi Technological University (DTU) to refund ₹95,000 to a student from Khudda Lahora after he was denied admission despite completing formalities, holding the authorities guilty of deficiency in service.

The complainant was allotted a seat in DTU during the first round of counselling and paid ₹95,000 as admission fee. (HT File)

The complaint was filed by Dipesh Kumar, a resident of Khudda Lahora, who had secured 94.77 percentile in JEE Main exam 2025 and applied for BTech/BArch counselling through JAC Delhi. He was allotted a seat in DTU during the first round of counselling and paid ₹95,000 as admission fee after document verification. A provisional admission letter was subsequently issued to him.

However, when Kumar reported for orientation on July 28, 2025, he was denied entry for not freezing his seat, a requirement he claimed was never communicated to him. His admission was cancelled without prior notice and the fee was not refunded despite repeated requests.

The commission noted that there was no clause in the provisional admission letter mandating the student to freeze the seat. It observed that once the fee had been accepted and a provisional admission letter issued, denial of admission on such grounds was unsustainable in law.

The commission directed them to refund ₹95,000 and also awarded ₹10,000 as compensation for mental agony and litigation costs.