The Supreme Court on Thursday exercised its extraordinary powers under Article 142 of the Constitution to allow an IIT Kharagpur student to transfer to IIT Roorkee, taking note of his ongoing mental health treatment at the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh.
A Bench of Justice B.V. Nagarathna and Justice R. Mahadevan directed IIT Kharagpur to issue the student’s transfer/migration certificate and all other necessary documents within one week to facilitate his admission to IIT Roorkee.
The student had approached the Court seeking a transfer on the ground that he was undergoing continuous treatment for depression and required regular medical supervision and medication at Chandigarh. During the proceedings, the Court had directed AIIMS, New Delhi, to evaluate the student’s medical condition and had also instructed IIT Roorkee to keep one seat vacant pending the outcome of the case.
Senior Advocate Shobha Gupta, appearing for the petitioner, submitted that the student’s treatment at PGIMER necessitated his relocation to an institute closer to Chandigarh. She argued that continuing at IIT Kharagpur would adversely affect his recovery due to the long distance between the institute and the hospital.
Appearing for IIT Roorkee, Advocate Shaiwal Srivastava submitted that the institute did not have a policy permitting inter-IIT transfers, unlike certain other IITs, as each institution is governed by its own Senate. He also contended that while the AIIMS report confirmed the student’s diagnosis of depression and ongoing medication, it did not expressly recommend a transfer.
When the institute referred to the absence of transfer rules, Justice Nagarathna remarked that the Court would exercise its powers under Article 142 instead of relying on institutional regulations. IIT Roorkee subsequently informed the Court that it had no objection if the transfer was ordered and left the matter to the Court’s discretion.
The Bench directed IIT Roorkee to admit the student within one week. Although the institute sought two weeks to complete the process, the petitioner’s counsel pointed out that any further delay would result in the loss of valuable academic time.
The Court also recorded IIT Roorkee’s submission that the student would have to begin afresh in the first year of the Bachelor of Architecture (B.Arch.) programme because the course at IIT Kharagpur could not be seamlessly continued after transfer. The petitioner’s counsel informed the Bench that the student was willing to restart the programme in view of his medical condition.
Allowing the petition, the Court observed that the interests of justice warranted issuance of the transfer documents, particularly in light of the student’s ongoing treatment and the practical difficulties caused by studying far from his treating hospital. It clarified that the student would be required to comply with IIT Roorkee’s fee structure and other admission requirements.
The Bench further noted IIT Roorkee’s request that the order should not be treated as a precedent in future cases, indicating that the relief had been granted in the peculiar facts of the case.
The petition, filed under Article 32 of the Constitution, also relied on the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Sukdeb Saha v. State of Andhra Pradesh, wherein the Court recognised mental health as an integral part of the right to life under Article 21 and issued guidelines to higher educational institutions for safeguarding students’ mental well-being.
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