People's Democracy

SUPREME COURT VERDICT

SFI Expresses Disappointment

Following is the statement issued by the central executive committee of the Students Federation of India (SFI) on August 17 reacting to the latest ruling of the Supreme Court on admission to unaided professional institutions:

THE central executive committee of the SFI while appreciating the attempt of the five member Constitution bench of the Supreme Court, constituted to interpret its earlier judgement in the TMA Pai case, is disappointed by the fact that the court had failed to ensure equity in access to higher education. The SFI thanks the court for accepting some of its suggestions placed before it through an interlocutory application.

The SFI welcomes the ruling of the court banning capitation fee and emphasising the necessity of the common entrance test for admission in professional educational institutions. This ruling has put at rest arguments of some of the managements that they can admit students in their institutes according to their own definition of merit. The court also categorically stated that the interests of the backward sections of the society should be protected through reserving certain per cent of seats for them.  It is also heartening to note that the court had clearly mentioned that education is a charitable occupation contrary to the claims of some minority and unaided managements.

The ruling of the court that private institutes can decide on the fee structure according to the expenditure incurred by them goes against its own classification of education as a charitable occupation. The user-must-pay principle advocated by the court will deny access to many poor meritorious students. The suggestion of the court to have a bond written by the student stating that he will study for the entire duration of his course is also harmful to the interests of the students. It actually prevents the transfer of the students who have got every right to change the institution because of some genuine reasons. Moreover the student would have already paid his dues for the period of his study. To ask for a bond or a bank guarantee is nothing less than bonded confinement.

Even though the court has directed for setting up of two committees for monitoring and regulating the unaided professional institutes, the court does not specify the accountability of these committees.

Utilising the provisions in the judgement, the respective state governments should conduct common entrance test for admitting students in all the professional educational institutes. Only this can ensure access to backward sections of the society into the professional institutes.  The government should see that the fee for students who are admitted through the merit quota in the unaided professional institutes does not exceed the fee paid by the students of the government institutes. The governments should also immediately derecognise all the professional institutes that are collecting hefty fee from the students. Scholarship and fee reimbursement should be provided to all the needy students. The government should also enact suitable legislation to constitute a committee to monitor and regulate the unaided institutes and this committee should be accountable to the society at large.

The SFI feels that the state governments should come out to take affirmative action and legislate on all the issues and put an end to their inaction citing court verdicts. The SFI will carry on its struggle to ensure equality in access to higher education for the students of all sections.