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Naman Verma vs The Director, Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay & Ors.

Civil Appeal · 2022 INSC 555Decided 11 May 2022
Civil Appeal No. 3886 of 2022
Uday Umesh Lalit · S. Ravindra Bhat · Sudhanshu Dhulia · U.U. Lalit · Bhat · Dhulia

Background

The appellant, who suffers from the learning disability "Dyscalculia," sought a court direction that IIT Bombay admit her to its Master of Design (M.Des) course in the 2013 batch. Under the Bombay High Court's interim orders, she was in fact admitted and went on to successfully complete the entire course. However, when the writ petition was finally heard, the High Court held that her claim of entitlement under the Persons with Disabilities Act, 1995 was not made out, and that it lacked the power under Article 226 to formally declare her as having passed the M.Des programme, leaving her in the awkward position of having completed a course without a valid qualification.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court affirmed the High Court's legal findings on the merits of the 1995 Act claim, and did not go into whether her entitlement might now be reconsidered under the successor 2016 Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act. However, since she had already completed the entire course in good faith under the Court's own interim orders, the Supreme Court invoked its special constitutional power under Article 142 (to do complete justice) to declare that she had successfully completed the Master in Design course and that her qualification would be valid for all purposes going forward. It directed IIT Bombay to hand over her degree and testimonials within four weeks.

Lesson Learnt

Even where a litigant loses on the underlying legal question, the Supreme Court can use its Article 142 power to prevent an unjust or absurd outcome: here, ensuring a student who had genuinely and successfully completed a full course of study under the Court's own interim protection was not left without a valid degree merely because of how the litigation over her original entitlement turned out.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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