In a relief to thousands of Jammu and Kashmir studentsselected for a special scholarship scheme, the Supreme Court has extended thedeadline for taking admission in various engineering colleges due to situationsprevailing in the state after abrogation of its special status.

The Jammu and Kashmir government said that the counsellingby All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) was completed on July 30and the students selected for Prime Minister Special Scholarship Scheme (PMSSS)were supposed to take admissions by August 15, but many were unable to join thecolleges due to restrictions imposed in the state after revocation of itsspecial status.

About Prime Minister Special Scholarship Scheme (PMSSS):

The PMSSS was launched by the Centre during 2010-11 toencourage J-K students. It provides scholarship to deserving candidates to meetthe expenditure towards tuition fees, hostel fees, cost of books and otherincidental charges while studying across the country in various engineering andregular courses."Due to recent developments and peculiar situation inJammu and Kashmir, a request is made that the last date shall be extended tillSeptember 15. The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has noobjection to the prayer made. We allow the application and last date forselected PMSSS students stands extended till September 15, 2019," thebench said.

Here's what Shoeb Alam said:

At the outset, J-K state standing counsel Shoeb Alam saidthey were seeking extension as around 2,401 PMSSS students were not able totake admission in different engineering colleges across the country due to theprevailing situations.Alam said although the figure of students reported tohave taken admission was 3,672, due to restrictions many may not have been ableto make it to their colleges before the cut off dates and hence relief needs tobe granted for them also.

The Supreme Court's decision:

The court agreed with the request of Alam and said thatbesides the 2,401 students, any other candidates selected under PMSSS who havenot yet joined the respective engineering college due to the curbs and theprevailing situation, the last date of joining is extended till September 15for them also.

A bench of Justices U U Lalit and R Subhash Reddy agreedwith the contention and said that due to circumstances and situation prevailingin the state, the deadline for admission needs to be extended till September15.

On August 9, the apex court had agreed to hear the stategovernment's plea seeking extension of August 15 deadline for admissions ofselected PMSSS students.