JAIPUR: A single judge bench of Rajasthan high court (HC) permitted an NEET-UG aspirant to participate in counselling after he was denied admission and his security deposit forfeited due to a minor delay in fee payment. The order was issued on Wednesday during a hearing of the petition filed by the candidate, Narendra Mahala.Justice Sameer Jain’s bench ruled that forfeiture of the petitioner’s Rs 5 lakh security deposit by the counselling board was arbitrary and constituted “unjust enrichment”.“The court directed the authorities to permit the student to participate in the third round of counselling and ordered his security deposit to be adjusted against fees of any college he is allotted on merit,” Tanveer Ahamad, the petitioner’s advocate, said.Ahamad said Narendra Mahala, a fatherless student from a modest background, was unable to deposit the full college fee within the stipulated deadline due to death of his great-grandmother on Sept 29, and intervening public holidays. “Court found delay of a few hours to be bona fide and reasonable,” Ahamad said.Criticising the mechanical approach of authorities, Justice Jain stated that rigid deadlines should not override principles of equity and welfare, especially in education. “In the tussle between merit and money, the future of bona fide aspirants should not suffer,” the court observed.Describing the case as an “unambiguous illustration of the principles governing unjust enrichment,” the court also directed that a copy of the order be sent to National Medical Commission, secretary of ministry of health and family welfare, and chief secretary, Rajasthan govt, for appropriate scrutiny. It also requested its order in this case to be treated as a precedent, Ahamad said.