The Supreme Court has assured help to a poor Dalit youth, who lost his hard-earned seat in IIT Dhanbad after he narrowly missed the deadline to deposit Rs 17,500 as acceptance fee after clearing the prestigious exam in his last attempt.

"We will help you as far as possible. But what were you doing for the last three months as the fee deposit deadline expired on June 24," a bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra told the counsel for 18-year-old Atul Kumar on Tuesday.

Kumar’s parents failed to deposit Rs 17,500 as the acceptance fee by June 24, the deadline for depositing the requisite fees for blocking the seat.

The parents of the youth also approached the National Commission for Scheduled Castes, Jharkhand Legal Services Authority and the Madras high court to save the hard-earned seat.

His counsel told the bench that Kumar cleared the JEE Advanced in his second and last attempt and if the top court does not come to his rescue he would not be able to take another shot at the test.

After very brief arguments, the bench issued notices to the Joint Seat Allocation Authority, IIT Admissions, IIT Madras, which conducted the test this year.

The lawyer referred to the financial condition of the family of the youth.

It was a very tough task for the students to arrange Rs 17,500 by 5 pm of June 24, that too in just four days after allotment of the seat in IIT Dhanbad, the lawyer said.

Kumar, son of a daily wager, hails from a below poverty line (BPL) family living at Titora village in Muzaffarnagar district of Uttar Pradesh.

The National Commission for Scheduled Castes also expressed its inability to help him.

As he had taken JEE at a centre in Jharkhand, the youth had also moved the Jharkhand State Legal Services Authority which suggested him to approach the Madras High Court as it was IIT Madras that had conducted the exam.

The high court asked him to approach the top court.

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