Singh: Remedy promise

New Delhi, Aug. 17: The Prime Minister has assured Left leaders that the Centre could consider bringing in a law to amend the Constitution, if necessary, to bypass the Supreme Court order freeing private unaided colleges of the need to reserve seats for Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe students.

CPI general secretary A.B. Bardhan and CPM politburo member Sitaram Yechury met Manmohan Singh this afternoon to discuss the options available to the Centre.

According to the Left leaders, the Prime Minister said the government could bring in an amendment bill to broaden the scope of restrictions under Article 19 of the Constitution.

The court in its recent order described the opening of private colleges as an “occupation”. Article 19 guarantees freedom to citizens to “carry on any occupation, trade or business” without government interference.

However, Article 19 has a rider that empowers the Centre to impose “reasonable restrictions” on the agencies carrying on business in the “interest of the general public”.

Human resource development minister Arjun Singh told the Lok Sabha today that his government is going to table a bill ? the Private Professional Educational Institutions (Regulation of Admissions and Fixation of Fee) Bill ? in the winter session of Parliament to make private colleges fall in line with the government’s “philosophy” not only regarding their fees but admissions as well. This may also take care of quotas for SC/STs.

The Centre has two routes to counter the court order.

One way would be to incorporate the reservation quota in the private professional educational institutions bill for which the law ministry has already drawn up the draft.

The second option could be to bring a constitutional amendment bill as the Prime Minister suggested.

Left leaders have suggested an all-party meeting to the Prime Minister to discuss the matter.

The Left, however, cautioned the Prime Minister that the exercise should not convey the impression that the Centre was bullying the states.

Education is on the concurrent list and there should be no suggestion of the government exercising more and more control over private educational institutions.

The UPA’s common minimum programme is categorically committed to safeguarding the autonomy of higher education institutions.

Former HRD minister Murli Manohar Joshi of the BJP had earned flak from all quarters for his interference with the functioning of the Indian Institutes of Management.

But the bill could trigger another row over fees in private colleges. The Left has told Singh that the government should not fix the exact fee but should definitely draw “parameters” within which the fees can be fixed.