In a significant ruling, the Bombay High Court has ordered Mumbai University to admit a Chhattisgarh student, Lamya Khurshid Siddiqui, under the supernumerary quota reserved for Jammu and Kashmir students, after her accident prevented her from attending a crucial counselling session.
The division bench of Justices G S Kulkarni and Somasekhar Sundaresan, in its September 12 order, recognized Siddiqui’s outstanding academic record, where she scored 98% in the national level entrance test for the integrated Master of Science course offered by the Centre for Excellence in Basic Science (CEBS). The court noted the unfairness of denying her admission due to her inability to attend the counselling in person following her accident.
In their deliberation, the Justices highlighted the case’s unique circumstances, stating that the inability to participate in the admission process due to extraordinary circumstances should not detrimentally affect a student’s academic future. They pointed out that other students who were unable to attend had been allowed to send representatives, an option that was not afforded to Siddiqui.
The court emphasized that the two seats in question would otherwise remain unutilized, which led them to the decision to use one for Siddiqui. “Recognizing that the right to education is not only a statutory right but also a fundamental one linked to the right to life under Article 21 of the Constitution, and without setting a precedent given the peculiar set of facts, it is appropriate to utilize one of the unutilized supernumerary seats to accommodate the petitioner,” the order stated.
Siddiqui, who had completed her 12th standard exams, registered for the National Entrance Screening Test and secured an all-India rank of 491, qualifying her for the course. Despite her qualification, she faced challenges when she met with an accident just days before her scheduled counselling session. Her subsequent requests for an alternate session were denied by CEBS, prompting her to seek legal recourse.
