90:10 suspense continues

Updated on: Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Mumbai: Students who were hoping for a verdict on the government’s 90:10 quota on Monday were left disappointed as the Bombay high court was unable to conclude the hearing. The court continued its earlier order that no admissions to FYJC would be finalised as assured by the state. Top counsel Iqbal Chagla, and later Janak Dwarkadas and Navroz Seervai sought to demolish the state’s pro-SSC stand. The arguments, however, are far from over, and lawyers predict that it will be difficult to conclude the hearing on Tuesday.

State education minister Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil said that close to 43,000 students have submitted their admission forms. Most of these are from the state board, said officials at many submission centres.

ICSE, CBSE students still wait for relief

Parents and students are still on tenterhooks as Monday ended on an uncertain note for both sides as the HC could not conclude the hearing. The court, however, continued its earlier order that no admissions to FYJC would be finalised, as assured by the state.

Students across boards who may not share college seats stood almost shoulder to shoulder in the central courtroom where freedom fighter Lokmanya Tilak was sentenced. They listened intently along with the judges as top counsel Chagla and later Janak Dwarkadas and Navroz Seervai sought to demolish the state’s pro-SSC stand. The arguments, however, were far from over and on Tuesday too, it might be difficult to have a concluded hearing, said some lawyers.

“Why should students who burnt the midnight oil to get good marks for a junior college of their choice have their hopes and aspirations destroyed? The state’s decision to reserve 90% seats in FYJC for state board students is nothing but a populist measure in its extreme and destroys merit and the golden rule of merit-cum-preference, equity and fairplay,’’ argued senior counsel Iqbal Chagla as he batted for the rights of non-SSC students.

Chagla’s primary objection was that the move to have a 90:10 pro-SSC reservation in junior colleges followed no consultative process worth its name, lacked supporting data, violated the constitutional guarantee of equality, made a mockery of merit and also paid scant regard to the HC’s ruling last year when it quashed the other controversial pro-SSC percentile formula. “The percentile formula, however, was at least a misconceived attempt to level the playing field. The June 18 GR gives hope to some and despair to others when all must be treated equally.’’

“The GR has done away with competition between students of various boards even though the state has no data to show where, if at all, a disparity exists,’’ said Chagla, adding that a series of meetings, including a September 2008 workshop report cited by the state, prove to be an eyewash as nothing relevant was discussed there.

Dwarkadas contended that the state “deliberately carved artificial classes to treat equals as unequals.’’ The CJ asked, “Are you suggesting that the state created classes when none existed?’’ Dwarkadas, relying on an HC ruling, said the right to choose a college was a fundamental and human right but the state was trying to shunt meritorious students “to the suburbs and, if not that, out of the city.’’

Notwithstanding the higher percentages scored by SSC students this year, the ICSE counsel said the state “is promoting mediocrity over merit’’ by attempting a “positive discrimination’’ illegally.

The CJ asked the state’s special counsel, K K Singhvi, whether it was a reservation or a classification. Singhvi said it was just a “quota related to a classification between SSC and non-SSC students’’, which he would justify legally. Seervai said a reservation by another name would not change its status and reminded the court of the SC diktat that the state “cannot simply thrust any student on an unaided institution’’.

The court said the “issue of classification has never been dealt with so far”. Justice Dharmadhikari said “unequals being treated as equals is also violative of Article 14”.

90:10 suspense continues

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