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The High Court on Friday adjourned hearing on the petitions against the state c(GR) to adopt the Best Five rule for state board students. The HCs earlier restraining order against the proposed rule will continue until further orders.
While the petitioners,parents of CBSE and ICSE board students,contend the rule would give an unfair advantage to state board students during admission to Class XI,the state government has now said other boards are free to adopt the rule. An affidavit filed by S P Khorgade,under-secretary,School Education and Sports Department,states: the policy of Best Five is only for issuing marksheet and certificate and therefore,whether to adopt it for its own students,is the discretion of the ICSE board.
The states justification of its decision,which it said had been taken in accordance with expert opinion,was in view of the disparity in marking systems of the state board,the CBSE and ICSE boards.
The court is hearing petitions filed by one Sangita Shah and 20 others. The petitioners have also sought a similar policy for other boards if the state is allowed to implement the rule.
On Friday,petitioners counsel Rafiq Dada sought time to amend their petition in view of the corrigendum carried out by the government in the February 2010 GR. The division bench of Acting Chief Justice J N Patel and Justice S C Dharmadhikari posted the matter for Tuesday.
The state government had earlier told the court that it was contemplating amending the GR to correct some errors. The government affidavit now states that after issuing the corrigendum,the authorities had noticed another mistake and has therefore issued a fresh corrigendum.
Meanwhile,an affidavit filed by the SSC Board says the Best Five rule was not politically motivated. It also draws a comparision between the state board and the others. It states the state board had granted affiliation to schools in the remotest parts of the state and had kept fee,unlike other boards,at minimum levels.
Boards like the ICSE and CBSE have not taken any steps to solve problems faced by students, states the affidavit filed by Tukaram Supe,secretary,SSC. It added that underprivileged children had a right to aspire for premium institutions.
Under the proposed rule,the SSC marks in the five subjects,out of the six,in which they score the highest will be taken into account. Last year,the state government had proposed a 90-10 quota in favour of SSC students on the grounds that ICSE and CBSE students scored more (because of a different exam pattern). It was struck down by the High Court. Two years ago,on similar grounds,the state had come up with the percentile formula,to award additional marks to SSC passouts,which,too,was disallowed by the HC.
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