All-party meet for consensus on quota

The draft provides for reservations for SC, ST and other weaker sections, and once it becomes a law, it will undo the SC order. The Union Government has also called a meeting on August 27 of state ministers in charge of professional education to discuss the draft.

The SC order had said the Government cannot enforce its reservation policy in institutions not aided by the state. The Court also gave managements ‘‘unfettered rights’’ to admit students as they wished.

Almost all political parties have raised the issue in Parliament in the past two days, asking the Government to take appropriate measures to ensure reservations in private colleges. Many supporting parties of the UPA, including the Left and the DMK, took up the issue with the Prime Minister and UPA Chairperson also. So, the Government decided to call an all-party meeting.

The draft bill being discussed by the Central Advisory Board on Education and states seeks to regulate the admission and fees in private professional colleges. The Government will retain the right to appoint an ‘admission and fees regulatory committee’ headed by a person who had served as a Vice-Chancellor, to fix fees and monitor admissions.

The fees in such institutions will be decided by criteria such as the investments made by the management, location, quality of infrastructure etc. Section 8(1) of the draft says such institutions shall ‘‘reserve seats for candidates belonging to SCs, STs and wherever applicable, to the socially and educationally backward classes.’’

The Government apparently wants the draft, which pre-dates the SC order, to be discussed at the all-party meeting without being seen to be on a collision course with the Supreme Court.