IIT aspirant challenges last-minute cancellation

Thanks to a “mere inadvertent mistake” by Indian Institute of Technology, 19-year-old Nidhi Singla’s is fighting a legal battle to fulfill her dreams to join the premier institute despite clearing the exams.

Thanks to a “mere inadvertent mistake” by Indian Institute of Technology, 19-year-old Nidhi Singla’s is fighting a legal battle to fulfill her dreams to join the premier institute despite clearing the exams.

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In April 2010, Nidhi appeared in the IIT entrance exams and scored a rank of 6,767. She was allotted a seat in IIT-Roorkee (architecture branch) and was asked to deposit a fee of R40,000.

When a thrilled Singla tried to access the admission letter online, she was shocked to see the IIT informing her that her admission had been cancelled.

However, it didn’t cite any reason for the cancellation.

And, Nidhi is not alone in her battle. Fifty more candidates met a similar fate after their admissions were cancelled.

IIT admits its mistake: Three months after Nidhi moved court, the IIT filed an affidavit, saying these students had not cleared the aptitude test and they were declared passed because of a “mistake in data processing”.

“For the IIT it is a ‘mere inadvertent’ mistake. But thanks to the blunder, the girl lost a chance to pursue engineering courses in other prestigious institutions as well,” Nidhi’s lawyer Vinay Kumar told the court.

Kumar argued that “once a seat was allotted, the admission cannot be cancelled without giving any notice or justification”.

The premier institute, in its defence, said Nidhi was given a second chance. “Due to lack of choices intimated by her ... she could not secure any seat in the available courses.”

On the contrary, Nidhi said she had filled 97 choices and it was enough to grant admission.