19 year old Atharva Chaturvedi, 12th pass, fought his own case in the Supreme Court and won. He had filed a petition after not getting NEET admission under EWS quota. The court directed his interim admission for the 2025-26 session.
New Delhi: Recently, a surprising incident happened in the bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant in the Supreme Court. A young man argued for just ten minutes and won his case. Even the judge was surprised to see his arguments. He was neither a lawyer nor an expert on the Constitution. That was 19 year old Atharva Chaturvedi from Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, who has passed 12th! This student, who wanted to become a doctor, told the court about the injustice done to him and won. After a ten-minute debate his life changed. He achieved what he wanted!
special rights
He pleaded his case himself using the special rights given under Article 142 of the Constitution. In fact, this young man coming from the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) had passed the NEET exam twice. But due to lack of rules he was not able to get admission. He had challenged this thing in the Supreme Court. After looking at his arguments and evidence, the judges ruled in his favor. The court also said that admission cannot be refused merely because the state has not made any rules regarding EWS reservation in private colleges. The court directed the authorities to give interim admission to this youth for the 2025-26 session.
Who is Atharva Chaturvedi?
Atharva’s father Manoj Chaturvedi is a lawyer. During the lockdown, when the court proceedings were going on virtually, Atharva used to watch them attentively. Well, he had no interest in becoming a lawyer. He had passed both medical and engineering entrance exams. He has cleared NEET twice, in which he scored 530 marks. But she did not get an MBBS seat under the EWS quota in private colleges because the state had not implemented the policy of increasing reservation there. This is what he challenged.
Art learned in Covid
Seeing his speaking skills, the Chief Justice jokingly said, ‘You should become a lawyer, not a doctor.’ You have chosen the wrong field. Talking about his son’s historic victory, the father said, “My son never studied law, but he is interested in everything. He knows when and how much to speak and when to remain silent. In fact, he taught me how to scan and upload applications. During Covid times, when most people were learning how to do Zoom meetings, Atharva was watching court proceedings online.”
To fight his case himself, he first went to the Supreme Court website. Downloaded the formats of Special Permission Petition (SLP) from there. Read old decisions. Then he prepared the application himself and filed it online. His father tells that Mitra Madam and Bharti Madam helped him in this.