A Dalit student was recently denied admission to an IIT after failing to pay the seat allocation fee (SAF) because of a last-minute software glitch, prompting him to approach the Supreme Court.

But the government appeared oblivious to such harassment when minister of state for education Sukanta Majumdar told Parliament on Thursday that the SAF ensures that only serious candidates secure seats in prestigious institutions.

Atul Kumar, a Scheduled Caste (SC) candidate from Uttar Pradesh, was initially denied admission for failing to pay the SAF because of a last-minute software glitch. On the Supreme Court’s intervention, Kumar was allowed to join IIT Dhanbad this year.

“The SAF is to ensure that the candidates who accept a seat are committed to joining the chosen programme. Otherwise, candidates who booked the seat and do not report to the institute lead to wasting of precious seats and thus denying another candidate (including those reserved for SC/ST) the opportunity to join these prestigious institutions,” the minister said in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha.

MDMK member Vaiko and DMK member M. Shanmugam wanted to know if complaints have been received from the SC/ST Students’ Association about the denial of admission to IITs and NITs because of failure to pay SAF and the corrective measures taken. In 2016,the then HRD ministry had issued orders to waive the fees of SC/ST students taking admission to IITs and NITs. Yet the candidates, including SC/ST students getting seat offers in IITs or NITs, are being asked to pay SAF. A general category student seeking admission to IITs has to pay an SAF of ₹35,000 and an SC/ST student pays half that amount.