The Hindu : National : Seven-judge Bench to hear petitions

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jan 25, 2005

National

National

Seven-judge Bench to hear petitions

By J. Venkatesan

NEW DELHI, JAN. 24. A seven-judge Bench of the Supreme Court will hear on February 1 the issues relating to the fixing of quotas by the State Governments for admission to private professional institutions and holding of a common entrance test for admission.

A Bench of R.C. Lahoti and G.P. Mathur referred to a seven-judge Bench a batch of over 100 petitions and applications after hearing senior counsel, Fali S. Nariman, Harish Salve and Arun Jaitley.

The reference was made after several minority unaided private institutions of Karnataka, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh pointed out that the five-judge Bench decision in the Islamic Academy of Education case limiting the right to hold entrance test by either the State or an association of colleges did not conflict with the rights granted by a 11-judge Bench in the T.M.A. Pai case granting them the right to have their own admission procedure.

Mr. Nariman said the questions related to interpretation of the five-judge Bench decision in the Islamic Academy case, which clarified the judgment of the 11-judge Bench in the T.M.A. Pai case.

Last year, due to different interpretations, Karnataka and Kerala enacted laws fixing the quotas. Several other States also framed regulations based on the Islamic Academy case, resulting in chaos and confusion.

While Karnataka enacted a law fixing 75:25 quotas for sharing of seats between the government and the managements of private, aided, unaided minority and non-minority professional institutions, Kerala enacted a law fixing 50 per cent each for `government quota' and `management quota'.

Mr. Justice Lahoti asked Mr. Nariman and others to submit by January 31 a list of questions that needed clarification or answer by a seven-judge Bench.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

National