On a February afternoon, as a bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant began to rise inside the Supreme Court, a young voice requested ten more minutes. That voice belonged not to a senior advocate, not to a constitutional expert, but to 19-year-old Atharva Chaturvedi, a Class 12 passout from Jabalpur who simply wanted to become a doctor.
Ten minutes later, history tilted in his favour.
Invoking its extraordinary powers under Article 142 of the Constitution, the Supreme Court directed the National Medical Commission and the Madhya Pradesh government to grant provisional MBBS admission to NEET-qualified candidates from the Economically Weaker Section. For Atharva, it was not just a legal victory, it was oxygen for a dream that had nearly suffocated.
Atharva is not what you imagine when you hear the words "constitutional litigation." He watches Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah. He cleared both engineering and medical entrances. He chose Biology.
He passed NEET not once, but twice. He scored 530 marks. Yet he could not secure an MBBS seat under the EWS quota in private colleges because the state had not implemented a policy to extend reservations there.
When the Jabalpur High Court heard him argue his own matter, the judge reportedly told him, half in admiration, half in jest, "You should become a lawyer, not a doctor. You're in the wrong field."
But Atharva knew exactly which field he belonged to.
His father, Manoj Chaturvedi, is a lawyer. But he had never practised in the Supreme Court. During the Covid lockdown, when courts went virtual, technology became the family's unexpected teacher.
"My son never studied law," said Chaturvedi. "But he saw everything. How much to speak, when to stay silent. In fact, he taught me how to scan petitions and upload them."
While the world was learning to bake bread and attend Zoom meetings, Atharva was observing cross-examinations and courtroom discipline online.
He went to the Supreme Court website. Downloaded the Special Leave Petition format. Studied previous judgments. Drafted his own SLP. Filed it online on January 6 after correcting registry objections.
Even seasoned lawyers sometimes hesitate before filing an SLP in the top court. Atharva did it from Jabalpur to save travel and lodging expenses in Delhi.
His father credits two teachers, Mitra Madam and Bharti Madam, for sharpening his son's language and confidence.
There was a moment when Atharva's school section was about to change. Bharti Madam advised that he remain under Mitra Madam's guidance. "It was a turning point," he said. "From an English perspective, that changed everything."
At Maharshi School, an affordable institution, Atharva chose the toughest subjects: Mathematics, Biology, English and Computer Science. He topped in Biology practicals. He even secured selection in Jabalpur Government Engineering College.
But he chose medicine. Not because it was easier. But, because it was harder.
The Supreme Court bench noted that the petitioner, a young man from an economically weaker background, had qualifiedfor NEET twice but could not gain admission due to policy gaps. The court held that admissions could not be denied simply because the state had failed to notify EWS reservations in private colleges. Within ten minutes of oral submissions, the Court directed authorities to grant provisional admission for the 2025-26 session, subject to fee payment.
For a man who prepared legal arguments between Biology chapters, it was validation beyond marksheets.
Victory, however, is not the same as certainty. The state has been directed to allot a college within seven days. But private college fees under EWS are still undefined. For a middle-class family, that question looms larger than any legal principle.
His father, who taught him Mathematics, now worries about finances. His mother, a homemaker, quietly ensured discipline and routine throughout his journey. "They never demanded anything," Chaturvedi said. "Given our situation, they were content with what we had."
Atharva does not wear a black coat. Not yet a white one either.
He stands somewhere in between a young man who refused to let policy silence merit. Who reads judgments the way others read comic strips. Who argued before the country's highest court not with theatrics, but with facts. The High Court may have told him he was in the wrong field. But perhaps he is exactly where he needs to be
a doctor in the making, who first learned how to heal injustice.
