SC gives govt role in pvt colleges

Ruling In Interest Of Maintaining High Standards Of Education In Unaided Institutes

The SC on Wednesday said the state has a responsibility to maintain high standards of education and is hence competent to regulate admissions even in unaided private professional colleges.

This important order came from a vacation Bench comprising Justices Markandey Katju and Deepak Verma, which ordered that private unaided medical and dental colleges in Madhya Pradesh would keep aside up to 50% of their seats to accommodate candidates successful in the state-conducted common entrance test.

The Bench said despite three constitution Benches of SC —one comprising 11 judges, another 5 judges and still another with 7 judges — dealing with the issue of regulating affairs of educational institutions — minority, aided and unaided and non-minority — there appeared to be still some grey areas that needed clarification.

While the 11-judge Bench in the T M A Pai case had said that greater autonomy has to be granted to unaided institutions compared to the aided ones, the 7-judge Bench in the P A Inamdar case had said it would be unfair to apply the same logic to aided and unaided colleges.

Referring to Inamdar case judgment, the Bench said it was said if the admission process adopted by an unaided private college did not conform to the triple test — fair, transparency and reasonable fee-structure — then the state would have an occasion to interfere in it. The Justice Katju-headed Bench said the 7-judge Bench did not specify the body which would determine whet-her the admission process of a private unaided college was at fault.

“It can’t be left to the unilateral decision of the state to say that a private institution has failed the triple test. This will give an unbridled power to the state to say that a private institution has failed the triple test,” it said. It said: “To strike a balance between the responsibility of the state as against the interest of the private unaided professional colleges, the court has to use its creativity.”

Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi stressed the need to allow Association of Private Dental and Medical Colleges to fill seats through entrance test conducted by the association. However, MP counsel, senior advocate Ravi Shanker Prasad, argued that the state had already conducted entrance test. Striking a balance, the court said as an interim measure for this academic year, private unaided colleges would leave out 50% of their seats to be filled by candidates in merit list drawn through entrance test conducted by the government.
Source:- The Times of India 28 May 2009 P.17 Delhi
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