The Supreme Court, on Friday, March 25, came to the aid of a young Kashmiri girl pursuing her MBBS from a college in Bangladesh, whose financial assistance was stopped as she took admission in another college, news agency PTI reported. A Bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and Surya Kant dismissed the appeal of the Jammu and Kashmir administration against the high court order directing the release of financial assistance to the girl Mubashir Ashraf Bhat.
The court said, "The consequence of entertaining the appeal would deny the loan disbursal, which was sanctioned originally for her study though in a different institution. We are of the view that the exercise of jurisdiction under Article 136 of the constitution would not be appropriate when the consequence of entertaining the petition would substantially dislocate the educational career of a young woman student from Jammu and Kashmir."
The Bench said, "We, therefore, decline to entertain the petition only on this ground and without expressing any opinion on the question of law, which is sought to be raised. The question of law is kept open to be decided in the appropriate case. The Special Leave Petition is dismissed."
At the outset, Justice Chandrachud said, "She is a young person pursuing MBBS from a college in Bangladesh. Yes, mistakes are there on her part, but we all have done mistakes in our youth days." Justice Surya Kant told the counsel for the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir, "Kashmiri youth need to be brought into the mainstream. We need to promote the youth of Jammu and Kashmir by educating them. You want to deny the young girl her academic career."
Justice Chandrachud said that entertaining the appeal of the Jammu and Kashmir administration would impact her educational career negatively. Standing counsel for Jammu and Kashmir administration Taruna Prasad said that there are substantial questions of law as there is a breach of trust.
The top court was hearing an appeal filed by Jammu and Kashmir against the high court order directing the Jammu and Kashmir women's development corporation to release a loan instalment in favour of Bhat. The corporation had released the first instalment of Rs 30 lakh loan sanctioned in favour of Bhat in 2018 but had refused to release subsequent amounts on the ground that she had changed her admission to Khwaja Yunus Ali Medical College, Bangladesh from Community Based Medical College, Bangladesh.
Bhat had moved the high court after the corporation demanded back the first instalment of Rs 6 lakh and refused to release the subsequent funds. She had contended that she was forced to change her admission due to the non-availability of seats in the Community Based Medical College.
The corporation, on the other hand, submitted that it had released the funds for the Community Based Medical College but Bhat had transferred it to Khwaja Yunus Ali Medical College without prior information, which is a breach of the terms and conditions of the loan. The division bench of the high court had set aside the single-judge order which had ruled against Bhat.
