Court notice to IIT-Guwahati for denying admission to Navy officer 

The Gauhati High Court on August 4 issued notices to the Indian Institute of Technology — Guwahati (IIT-G) and three others in a case of denial of admission to an Indian Navy officer into an MTech course in Robotics and AI, via the sponsored category, after he had reportedly cleared the interview. The dean had rejected his application citing the non-eligibility of his MSc in naval weapons.

GUWAHATI: The Gauhati High Court on August 4 issued notices to the Indian Institute of Technology — Guwahati (IIT-G) and three others in a case of denial of admission to an Indian Navy officer into an MTech course.

Commander Rushwan Razack had applied for an MTech course in robotics and artificial intelligence while undergoing a data analytics course at IIT-G from February to May. His application was in the sponsored category.

He was shortlisted for the MTech interview based on his MSc in naval weapons from Cochin University of Science and Technology. He was officially told that he had cleared the interview.

But the dean rejected his application after receiving the recommendation from the interview panel, citing the non-eligibility of a master’s degree in naval weapons.

Although the Navy officer, whose last assignment was as captain of a DRDO (Defence Research and Development Organisation) ship, met all the prerequisites and had studied the necessary subjects during his MSc course, the exact reasons for rejecting him were not furnished.

“The court of Justice Lanusungkum Jamir admitted Mr Razack’s case today (Friday) and ordered notices to be issued to the IIT-G and three others,” Arnab Duarah, the Navy officer’s counsel told The Hindu. 

The IIT-G authorities had earlier declined to comment on the case of Mr. Razack, an alumnus of the National Defence Academy (2003 batch) with two decades of service behind him.