Southern States - Kerala-Thiruvananthapuram   

SC verdict not all sweetness and light

By C. Gouridasan Nair

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM Aug. 15. Although the Supreme Court verdict fixing the ratio between merit and management seats in private self-financing professional colleges has come as a welcome development, the apex court's directives with regard to fee structure places a heavy responsibility on the State Government.

The Government justifiably feels vindicated now that the Supreme Court had endorsed its position that merit and management quota seats should be in equal proportions. The Chief Minister, A. K. Antony, is particularly happy with the development because it, in effect, upholds his position that with such a formula, two private self-financing professional colleges would become equivalent to one Government college.

But that is precisely where the catch is. If the Chief Minister's formulation is to become true, the seats in the merit quota should also attract the same fees as applicable to students in Government colleges.

Since the Supreme Court had ordered the formation of two committees to decide on admission norms and fee structure, the Government has hope for some breathing space. But the onus of making any such fee structure acceptable to the masses would continue to lie with the Government.

Opposition political parties and educationists had already come out pointing out these finer aspects of the SC verdict.

In a statement here today, the CPI State secretary, Veliyam Bhargavan, said there could be no compromise on the fees applicable to students selected from merit lists by private self-financing colleges being the same as those being realised from students in Government colleges.

He accused the Chief Minister and the Industries Minister, P. K. Kunhalikkutty, who also holds charge of Education, of maintaining a studied silence on the issue.

Mr. Kunhalikkutty had assured student leaders that this would be ensured when the fee structure was finalised, he added.

Mr. Bhargavan said the most-welcome aspect of the Supreme Court verdict was the ban on capitation fees. He, however, pointed out that the self-financing medical colleges in the State had taken hefty sums as capitation fee and demanded a comprehensive inquiry into this.

The Government should also be ready to cancel the recognition given to such colleges, he said.

Legislation sought: Meanwhile the Kerala Vidyabhyasa Samiti has sought to highlight some of the `vague and problematic' aspects of the Supreme Court verdict.

Its chairman, Ninan Koshy, has urged the Government to go in for an appropriate legislation to give effect to the directives of the Supreme Court.

In a statement here, Prof. Koshy said the Supreme Court verdict was welcome as it clarified several issues dealt with in the judgment of the court on the T. M. A. Pai Foundation case handed down in October last year.

"While the decision to fix the quota at 50:50 for the current academic year was to be welcomed, it was evident that unless the Government had a clear policy on `local needs' and `community needs', the quota question may be still open for bargaining and pressure by vested interests,'' he said.

Prof. Koshy was of the view that giving the management the right to decide the fee structure may pave the way for very high fees. The Government, he said, must ensure that the fee structure was fair and just and that those admitted to private professional colleges from the merit quota were charged only reasonably.

Otherwise, the claim that two self-financing colleges were equal to one Government college would prove `spurious', he added.

On the apex court's proposal for constituting two committees to decide on the admission methodology and fee structure, Prof. Koshy said the committees would be able to perform their functions effectively only if their independence was guaranteed statutorily.

A legislation was also necessary if the Government was to abide by the Supreme Court's directive that the Government cancel the recognition and affiliation given to professional colleges if they were found to be charging capitation fees or indulging in profiteering.

Prof. Koshy also pointed out that while the Supreme Court judgment spoke of preferential treatment for minority professional colleges, the fact that in the T. M. A. Pai Foundation case the court did not answer the question regarding criteria for deciding minority status would make the application of such preferential treatment problematic, especially in Kerala.

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