The Hindu : Front Page : Mixed reaction to Court order

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Aug 13, 2005

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Mixed reaction to Court order

Special Correspondent

Tamil Nadu should go for appeal , says K. Krishnasamy

CHENNAI: There were mixed reactions to the Supreme Court order on admissions to unaided, private minority and non-minority institutions. While college managements welcomed the ruling, political parties and students had serious reservations — especially on the "reservation" issue.

A majority of the self-financing colleges were happy to be "freed" from the Tamil Nadu Professional Courses Entrance Examination (TNPCEE) and the single-window system (SWS) of the Anna University. Of course, they will have to arrange for a common entrance test to ensure transparency and "merit" in admissions. They are hoping this will bring down the qualifying mark for admission so that they can fill more seats.

Anna University, the affiliating and regulatory body, has fixed 60 per cent as the minimum marks for admission to engineering colleges.

The problem is less complex in medical colleges as there are only around 1,500 seats and two private colleges.

When contacted, leaders of political parties expressed their reservations on the ruling, but said they wanted to see the order before reacting. Puthiya Thamizhagam leader K. Krishnasamy, however, insisted that the Tamil Nadu Government go on appeal and seek legal opinion on how to take up the issue.

It was up to the Centre to formulate a national education and admission policy to protect the reservation policy. His party would convene a meeting of professional and arts and science colleges to chalk out a course of action, Mr. Krishnasamy said.

Students belonging to the backward classes and the scheduled castes and the scheduled tribes were agitated about the "virtual wipe-out" of quotas in private colleges. As far as Tamil Nadu was concerned, it meant that hardly 10 per cent of the 70,000-odd seats would remain under the ambit of the TNPCEE and the SWS. Though there were enough seats in the State, the fee structure would keep the poorer sections out of professional courses if there was no "Government quota," they felt.

They were also concerned about placement prospects as companies insisted on "sustained merit" of potential recruits. In essence, the confusion in the admission system would continue into the next academic year.

Officials said they would have to see the full order and seek legal opinion before coming to grips with it.

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