http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/aug212005/dhforum.asp DH Forum SC diktat on admissions The recent Supreme Court verdict with respect to admissions in professional colleges has not appealed to many of our readers. It is against the poor favouring only the rich and the mighty, they say. But, it seems that Centre?s proposal to bring in a legislation has instigated many to dwell on judiciary, legislature power struggle. However, a handful of them say the apex court verdict has put a stop to confusion in the admission process. Market forces dictate terms We seem to be leaning completely towards a philosophy where market forces seize control and economic power alone will lay down the rules. People who were in charge of presenting the State?s case in the Supreme Court on behalf of the poor and the merited, failed miserably in doing their bit. Instead, they were dangling before an anxious, helpless populace, the pipe dream of opening new Medical Colleges by the dozen, as though they were roadside Darshinis! It is difficult to believe that if the case for the merited, economically backward and needy students had been presented effectively, the Supreme Court would have dismissed it. K M Srinivasa Gowda Purpose defeated The SC judgement giving autonomy to unaided minority and non-minority private education institutes defeats the reservation policy introduced for admissions to educational institutions for the upliftment of the lower castes. The Supreme Court verdict has put future of thousands of students? future in the dark. Once again education will again be the property of the rich. It has been considered that rights of the private educational institutions are much more important than the right of access to education. This will leave higher education at the mercy of the market forces. Majority of the institutes/ professional colleges are owned by the politicians who are the first to flout rules and violate laws of the land. Surendra P Bendigeri Elitist bias The Apex Court's verdict is unfortunate. The Supreme Court while upholding the right to private property has overlooked the avowed social objectives of education and the need to protect the poor. Most of these institutions claim minority status and quote Article 30(1) to do business of education as a profit-making commercial enterprise. The whole thrust of capitation fee institutions is that they sell the major chunk of seats for admission to the rural and city rich and leave a few seats for the vast majority of meritorious poor students. Now they will sell all the seats for the rich and the NRIs. This is elitism in the crude form. Jacob Abraham Oppose verdict The credibility of Supreme Court is at stake today for the first time. Every citizen is bound to honour all pronouncements of this apex body. But unfortunately, this court has dealt a death blow to the very concept of ?social justice? by providing full freedom to private professional colleges to have their own procedures and policies in matters relating to admission, fee structure, etc. We should oppose the verdict. All religious groups, caste groups, political parties, state govts and others have expressed their total opposition to the Supreme Court judgment. It will be really great if Supreme Court revises or withholds its most universally unpopular verdict before it is too late. Mumtaz Ali Khan Horrible The Supreme Court is an assault on the students of a country which is still developing. Fifteen percent reservation for NRI quota is amazing. We feel this decision is totally unjustifiable and horrible. At this crucial moment, we are happy to know that our honourable prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh has promised to enact a centralised law.We are eagerly waiting for that. Murlimanju B V Find alternative The best option would be to earmark majority of seats for the meritorious, with a sub-division for the socially backwards. There should be an ombudsman to watch the selection process and exercise of authority. U S Iyer Start debate The Supreme Court verdict has raised vital issues for debate by all sections of society. Since the verdict is applicable only from next academic year, it has given adequate time for the authorities to work out a solution satisfying all the stakeholders involved in professional education in the country. The Centre should encourage a debate among stake holders so that a consensus is reached and a comprehensive model bill is drafted and introduced in Parliament for debate and approval. R Ganesh Review needed For once, the SC verdict professing freedom to private professional colleges has assumed the proportion of a national debate. Promotion and protection of the interests of the students is of utmost importance in a developing country like India. The SC stand has gone against this principle. Next, for ages, there has been an unending feud over the supremacy of the Judiciary and the Legislature. The SC verdict comes into this domain too; and it looks that the SC has somewhat stepped into the Legislature field, because of its judicial activism and because the issue went before it. Even now, the verdict could be ?reviewed? by the SC on its own. S S Ramanatha Rao God save us Politicians cutting across party lines have raised such a loud hue and cry that the UPA government has had to promise to enact a law to counter the SC verdict. Nothing unites all politicians like self-interest. Tears (the ?crocodile? kind) are being shed in profusion for the SCs and STs: and strangely only where quotas in private/unaided professional institutions are concerned. The sad neglect of the same groups in primary and secondary education and in their getting a modicum of dignity and respect in their social systems is common knowledge. Having a large number of seats under their control in private/unaided Medical, Engineering and other professional institutions gives the government power and patronage and other gains apart from the obvious advantage at the hustings where the politicians chant the SC/ST mantra to get votes. For their own survival, politicians will defy even the Supreme Court and the Constitution. God save this country. Diana Saldanha Not justified In our society where even basic economic needs of majority of the population is not met, how can it be justified to give complete freedom to private professional colleges in respect of admissions, fee structure? Particularly when the government-run colleges are far less in numbers and also when it is not possible or viable for any government to run all these colleges themselves. V Jayakumar Rights denied The judgment given by the Supreme Court is favouring only the private professional colleges. The private professional colleges will only become shopping centres instead of citadel of the higher educational institutions. In this era of social justice to all, as envisaged in the constitution, by this unjustified judgment, the very fabric of constitutional rights will be denied to the poor. M S Ananda Rao Dangerous The verdict has removed the confusion regarding the admission and fee structure in the professional colleges. It should also help the universities concerned to draw up a proper schedule for starting the classes, conducting the examinations,etc. However, the unfettered freedom given to the managements for selecting the candidates and to decide the fee structure is dangerous. K K Cherian Scapegoat The commoner who has no resources to reach Supreme Court has become a scapegoat in the legal battle between the government and the managements of private institutions. Instead of pondering over the consequence of the judgment, Government should subsidise the education of meritorious but economically poor students even if they get admitted to private colleges. K S Karnic Politicians? link Majority of the unaided private institutions have direct links with politicians of various hues. If government institutions are successful and are in large numbers then the ?investment? made in the business will yield no ?returns.? Therefore in their own subtle manner politicians have ensured that government institutions are not planned or funded as otherwise they would pose a serious threat to the viability of private institutions. The recent raids in Maharashtra by the Income Tax department during admission time yielded a rich harvest of unaccounted money. This is a scenario which would have been played out all over the country had similar raids been conducted. C N Kumar Astonishing It is astonishing that the Supreme Court has given a free hand to fix the fees on the basis of infrastructure provided by the management. It is high time to bring central law for allocation of seats on the basis of merit keeping in mind the reservation policies enunciated in the Constitution and the fixation of fees on the basis of per capita income keeping in view of the economic conditions of the society. The fee structure for Engineering should be not exceeding Rs 25000 per year and for Medical and Dental it should be fixed at Rs 50000 per year. Chaitra Legislation Supreme court verdict will promote more discrimination and poor talented students of the oppressed communities will be unable to dream of taking up professional courses. India is developing country still a number of students depend on government institutions to pursue their education, we have less no institution to cater existing youths, so in this context central legislation is right move to protect poor and underprivileged. Raghavendra R Capitalistic stand It is very unfortunate that imparting education has become one of the biggest money spinning businesses . Going by the ruling government?s diktat of liberalisation, the SC has turned a blind eye to common man?s plight and upheld the biased capitalistic stand. Prakash F Madhwani Quota needed It is natural for the unaided educational institutions to frame a policy of their own in matters of admissions to professional courses provided the fee structure does not deny accessibility to educational for students hailing from economically backward class of people. Efforts are on anvil to annul the effects of the Supreme Court judgment by passing a suitable central legislation to keep the vote bank intact. Now the Supreme Court ruling has done enough to kick up a hot debate both inside and outside the Parliament on the continuation of reservation policy in education. The reservation system should not be abolished at one-go but now it is time to have it slashed by half and continued for another 50 years before phasing it out in toto. K V Seetharamaiah Justified I think the Supreme Court is completely justified in giving complete freedom to private professional colleges with respect of admissions, fee structure, etc. The guidelines should be followed to bring in transparency in fee structure, selection of candidates. Profiteering should not be the motive of the private colleges. The government should have say in anything else but reservation of seats in private colleges. Varadaraj
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