NURTURING TALENT OVER BEING STICKLER FOR RULES

IN a victory for democracy, the Supreme Court last week directed IIT Dhanbad to admit an 18-year-old Dalit boy who had lost his seat for missing the deadline for depositing fees of 17,500. While passing the order, the top court evoked the plenary powers granted by Article 142 of the Constitution that empowers it to administer complete justice.

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Atul Kumar, the son of a daily wager, hails from a below-poverty-line family from Titora village in Muzaffarnagar district of Uttar Pradesh. His father, who earns about ₹450 a day, found it difficult to raise the amount by the June 24 deadline to block the seat for his son's BTech course in electrical engineering. By the time he raised the amount through crowdfunding from his villagers, it was past the deadline. When the parents approached the National Commission for Scheduled Castes and the Jharkhand Legal Services Authority, the latter suggested that th