Despite a clear verdict from the Supreme Court that the state had no authority to reserve quotas in private unaided institutions, the UPA government is set to bring a law in the ongoing session of Parliament to reserve seats for backward classes in private professional colleges, including those that do not take aid from the government.All political parties are backing this proposed law which seeks to overturn the apex court’s August judgment which scrapped state quotas and reservation in private, unaided, minority and non-minority professional educational institutions across the country. On December 1, a seven-judge bench of the Supreme Court declined to review its judgment and dismissed a petition of the Tamil Nadu government.When the Cabinet meets tomorrow, the Ministry of Human Resource Development will move a proposal that gives the states the option to fix the percentage of seats reserved for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and other notified weaker sections in the general category as per existing reservation policies of the states. The general category would comprise 50 per cent of the total allocated seats while the remaining 50 per cent would be with the management.‘‘The reservation would vary as per state norms providing freedom to states to implement in accordance with the local laws,’’ said sources.One reason behind the Government’s promptness is that it wants the law in place before the next academic year.The earlier draft Private Professional Educational Institutions (Regulation of Admission and Fixation of Fees) Bill of 2005 had fixed management share of seats in unaided non-minority institutes at 50 per cent. Of the remaining, 15 per cent was to be filled on all-India basis in the manner prescribed by the Central government. The reservation for backward classes was to be in the general quota.
