When money reigns over education

Out Of Court

 In the vehicular pollution case, the court had to lay down the type of fuel and the norms. It had to go into the minutest details of the shifting of small units in congested areas in Delhi and Kolkata. Forest conservation rules are virtually implemented by the court in its special sittings these days.

 Defining the rules for allotment of seats in professional colleges and setting the fee structure for different categories of candidates is another exercise that the court has undertaken in the past decade. The effort has not been very tidy and the despair of the court was expressed last week in Saurabh Chaudri vs Union of India.

 Three judges of the court delivered separate judgements of their own. The core question was the constitutional validity of reservation whether based on domicile or institution, in the matter of admission to post-graduate courses in government-run medical colleges.

 Ultimately, they reduced the quota for super special subjects from 75 per cent to 50 per cent for in-house candidates and opened the other half to all-India candidates. However, some of the observations of the judges, especially those of Justice A R Lakshmanan, showed the state of affairs in the field of professional education.

 Pointing out the chaos created by the inaction of the state and Central governments, the judge said: