Quotas may apply to pvt schools too

The proposed Clause 5 of Article 15 reads: ‘‘Nothing … shall prevent the State from making any special provision, by law, for the advancement of any socially and educationally backward classes of citizens or for the SCs or the STs in so far as such special provisions relate to their admission to educational institutions, including private educational institutions, whether aided or unaided by the State, other than minority institutions referred to in Clause (1) of Article 30.’’ The amendment became necessary after the Supreme Court declared the demand for quotas in institutions unaided by the government ‘‘unconstitutional’’. When the apex court order came in August, the government was considering the Private Professional Educational Institutions (Regulation of Admission and Fixation of Fees) Bill 2005, which would have provided for quotas in professional institutions.

The Centre later dropped the idea of a federal law in this regard and chose to introduce a constitutional amendment to nullify the SC order. Once quotas in unaided institutions become constitutional, any state government can make a law to enforce it. The new clause covers all ‘‘educational institutions’’, including schools.