Orissa boy gets IIT admission on minister's order

NEW DELHI : Intervention by Union Human Resources Development Minister Arjun Singh has helped a Scheduled Tribe student, Balram Tudu, join IIT Kharagpur after he missed the counselling session due to non-receipt of the invitation letter sent to him by post.

The student, who had secured a preparatory course rank of 83 in the IIT-JEE-2006, could not join the counselling held at IIT Kharagpur on July 4 due to negligence of the post office.

Tudu joined the preparatory course on September 18 after creation of an additional seat at the institute as a special case. This was conveyed by the IIT Kharagpur to HRD Secretary Sudeep Banerjee in a letter. 

In his capacity as the chairman of the Council of IITs, Mr Arjun Singh had asked the chairman of the joint admission board for IIT-JEE to sympathetically consider Tudu’s case.

He has also asked for a detailed procedure to be put in place for the incorporation of the preparatory course along with deadlines for declaration of results and dates of counselling in the information brochure. He added that intimation about result and information about dates of counselling for all-India rank holders as well as Preparatory Course rank holders from SC, ST communities should also be sent to the district magistrate, collector or deputy commissioner.

Tudu, who has now joined the premier institute had qualified for the preparatory course, leading to admission in the first year of various programmes at seven IITs, IT-BHU and ISM, Dhanbad, on the successful completion of the course.

These students undergo the course of one year and on successful completion they are admitted to the first year of various IIT courses in the subsequent academic year. It is this course that Tudu had qualified for.