Tanvi Anil Sawant v. The Chairman Uceed Ceed Office And ORS

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY

CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION WRIT PETITION NO. 12279 OF 2025 Tanvi Anil Sawant

...Petitioner

Versus

The Chairman UCEED-CEED Office And Ors.

...Respondents

__________ Mr. Vishal Kanade a/w Mr. Aditya P. Shirke i/b Ms. Disha Shah & Smeet Talathi, Advocates for the Petitioner.

Ms. Kajal Gupta a/w Ms. Shweta Singh i/b M. V. Kini & Co., Advocates for Respondent Nos. 1 to 4.

Mr. Rui Rodrigues a/w Mr. Vinit Jain & Mr. Ashok R. Varma, Advocates for Respondent No. 5-Union of India.

__________ CORAM :

RAVINDRA V. GHUGE & ASHWIN D. BHOBE, JJ.

DATE :

13th OCTOBER, 2025.

P.C. :

1.

Today a new issue is introduced in this Petition by Respondent No. 4. The Petitioner belongs to the Open Category, which is known as the 'Unreserved Category'. At Page 115, there is a communication through the Public Information Officer, IIT Indore, Commander Sunil Kumar (Retired), who has categorically stated in the said communication dated 12th September, 2025 under the Right to Information Act, addressed to the Petitioner's father that, presently, one seat from the Open Category and one seat from the Scheduled Tribes (ST) Category, are vacant. On Page 116, the details about the seats available for the particular categories

and the number of seats filled-in, are also set up. Out of the unreserved 6 seats, 5 seats have been filled-in and one is vacant. For the sole seat reserved for the ST Category, no candidate was available. Today, the learned Advocate for the Petitioner tenders a print-out of the email received by his father from Dr. Kumar Gaurav, Assistant Registrar (Academic Affairs) IIT Indore, stating therein that it was erroneously informed that one seat from the Open Category is vacant. There is no vacant seat from the Open Category. It is the seat under the EWS Category, which is vacant. The grievance of the Petitioner is that this is a new defence is now taken by IIT Indore to defeat the claim of Petitioner since she belongs to the Open Category. The print-out of email (4 pages) is taken on record and marked as 'X-1' for identification. 2.

In view of the above, we direct that, Commander Sunil Kumar as well as Dr. Kumar Gaurav, shall file their individual Affidavits with regard to the above controversy. Let both independently file their Affidavits on or before 3rd November, 2025, considering the intervening vacation.

3.

IIT Indore would also file an Affidavit through its Director, with the relevant documents pertaining to the sanction of reservation for various seats, the names of candidates who have been admitted to the said seats and their social status, in order to enable us to conclude as to

whether only 5 candidates have been admitted from the Open Category, leaving one seat vacant or whether there are 6 candidates who have occupied the Open Category seats and not a single seat from the Open Category is now vacant. In short, we would verify the truth in the backdrop of the two statements made by the Public Information Officer and by the Assistant Registrar. This Affidavit should also be filed on or before 3rd November, 2025.

4.

By consent, we are listing this Petition on 7th November, 2025 in the 'First on Board' Category, for further hearing and orders. [ASHWIN D. BHOBE, J.] [RAVINDRA V. GHUGE, J.] GITALAXMI KRISHNA KOTAWADEKAR GITALAXMI KRISHNA KOTAWADEKAR Date: 2025.10.15 18:19:58 +0530