NEW DELHI T: he Supreme Court's ruling scrapping government quota or reservation in private minority and non-minority professional institutions is a step backward, Students Federation of India president K.K Ragesh said on Saturday. Nullifying reservation for Scheduled Castes and Tribes was a severe blow to the cause of social justice.

Addressing a press conference here, Mr. Ragesh said `autonomy' for professional institutions was again misinterpreted in this ruling. "The Radhakrishnan Commission has argued for the autonomy of universities in academic matters. It was misquoted in the TMA Pai case judgment in order to extend the definition of autonomy to aspects of admission procedure, fee structure, etc"

Although the judgment banned capitation fee, it left loopholes for private managements to collect it, Mr. Ragesh said. Merit-based admissions could not be ensured if they were given autonomy in the matter.

"While the judgment speaks against profiteering, it allows private managements to generate a `reasonable surplus,' the vague nature of which is an invitation to an arbitrary increase in fees''

Mr. Ragesh said private managements used court judgments to impose a massive fee hike.

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