SUBJECT: CONSTITUTION OF INDIA

ASSIGNMENT

‘Best of 5’ Policy: Violation of Article 14

BY

RAHUL SRIDHAR

MBA (TECH) TELECOM

STUDENT CODE: 524

Background of the Case

The government of Maharashtra had passed a resolution that the students having passed
the SSC board (State Board) would get admission in first year junior college (FYJC) only on
the basis of the percentage obtained by the student in best of five subjects. The parents of
the students who belong to the ICSE Board have filed the petition in the High court of
Mumbai against the said resolution stating it was in violation of fundamental rights given
under the Article 14 of the Constitution of India.

This year SSC declared its results based on the Best Five Policy wherein percentage of the
student was calculated on the basis of the best five scores out of a total of six subjects,
provided the student has passed all six subjects. The ‘best-of-five’ scheme by the state
government, initiated to assist state board students to stand at par with non-SSC board
students while competing for admissions to junior colleges.

Article 14 of the Constitution of India relates to Equality before law which states that

“The State shall not deny to any person equality before the law or the equal protection
of the laws within the territory of India”.

In February 2010, Maharashtra State Government introduced the Best five policy for the
FYJC Admissions to normalise mark scored by SSC students to their counterparts from
other boards like CBSE and ICSE.

In Maharashtra, FYJC Admissions (Standard XI) were being held up for the decision by the
High Court over the state government’s SSC Best Five Policy.

However, the Best Five Policy has been challenged in the Bombay High Court, and the
hearing on this matter and the verdict on the same took place on 22nd June 2010.

Earlier in first week of June 2010, a petition filed by parents of ICSE students challenging the
Best-Five policy, the HC had directed the state government not to proceed with the online
admissions process for junior colleges without its permission.
The state government in the month of February this year had issued a Government
Resolution (GR) which stated that for admission to FYJC, marks obtained in any five
subjects out of six in SSC, would be taken into consideration for the aggregate result. The
government’s logic behind the decision was to reduce stress levels on SSC students and
also to make it easier for them to compete with other board students during admission to
FYJC. But some parents of students from several ICSE schools challenged the
government’s decision in the HC claiming that it was unfair to their kids.

The HC judgment was out on June 23rd, 2010 but the government took more than ten days
to actually file its petition. In the meanwhile, the parents of the ICSE students had already
filed a caveat petition in the apex court on the day the government declared its decision to
approach the Supreme Court. The ‘Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher
Secondary Education’ had finally filed the petition in the Supreme Court. The State
government has decided to appeal in the apex judicial body against the High Court’s (HC)
decision claiming injustice towards the lakhs of students studying in the state board.

Similar cases in other states:

The admission conundrum has bogged every state at some point or the other. The scenario
is the same everywhere: like Maharashtra, almost every state has a miniscule percentage of
ICSE and CBSE schools, than those attached to the state board, but after class X, there is a
rush to get into junior colleges.

While the admission confusion has become an annual ritual in Maharashtra with the state
government coming up with ill-thought out attempts to molly coddle its vote bank, it may
come as a surprise to many that several other states have handled this issue carefully.

In Karnataka for instance, state government officials realised that there was a rush of top-
scorers towards the top colleges in its metros. "Everyone wanted to get into Mount Carmel
and Christ College. Students from ICSE and CBSE boards took up most seats in these
colleges, leaving a handful of seats for the SSLC (state) board students," explained a board
official.

Then, the government asked every college to set aside 5 per cent of their seats for students
from ICSE/ CBSE boards. "That is the ratio of state board students to ICSE/CBSE
candidates." We pushed through the policy initiative successfully as we had thought through
its legal ramifications.

While most other states have their own formula to tackle the issue, some others do not
encourage students to jump boards.

West Bengal

Earlier, there used to be a 20 percent deduction of marks for those who wished to cross-over
from CBSE/ ICSE to state board, since the WB board is more stringent. However, now there
has been a standardisation. No longer are there different criteria for students from different
boards.
Gujarat

State board is much more popular with students in Gujarat. In the undergraduate colleges, 3
per cent seats are reserved for the CBSE/ ICSE students, which is a sufficient number as
there are only a few schools affiliated to CBSE or ICSE in the state.

Tamil Nadu

There is a special procedure called 'normalisation' used for the admissions in this southern
state to bring students from different boards on the same level. The highest scores in a
subject in both the state board and CBSE/ICSE are taken into account alongwith the
candidate's score in the subject. The formula used for 'normalising' the scores is: (Highest
score in the subject in the state board/Highest score in the subject in CBSE/ICSE) *
candidate's score in the subject.

The Supreme Court Verdict:

Admissions to 5,000 junior colleges in Maharashtra will finally begin on Friday after the
Supreme Court said that the state government should extend its Best-5 policy to ICSE
students for this academic year. College principals predicted that admission cut-offs would
rise by two to three percentage points from last year’s levels.

The State Education Minister Mr. Balasaheb Thorat said, “We are relieved that the Supreme
Court has given justice to SSC students”, adding that admissions would begin in two days
after officials make the necessary changes to the software being used for online admissions.
The state will announce the schedule on Wednesday.

The admissions process has been delayed by two weeks, so the court’s interim order will
bring relief to the state’s 16 lakh SSC and 18,000 ICSE and CBSE students. The court is
likely to pass a final judgement in October.

Application of the ‘Best of 5’ scheme for the ICSE students would be as follows: they can
choose subjects only from group I and group II, not group III. Subjects in group III are high-
scoring, with half the marks coming from internal assessment. The court has also given
ICSE students the option of considering all seven subjects.

Officiating chief executive and secretary of the ICSE board Gerry Arathoon said, “We are
happy about the verdict,”, “But not very happy that subjects from group III will not be counted
in the Best-5 percentage.”
Harish Salve, senior counsel for the state argued that admitting ICSE students on the basis
of Best-5 would be fair provided they passed maths and science. The ICSE board allows
students to drop both maths and science, but the SSC board does not allow this.

While the all-India ICSE topper has a percentage of 98.8 based on her English plus best four
subjects, in the state several students have scored a perfect 100, thanks to 25 marks for
sports quota.

“The SSC advantage will show,” said Kirti Narian, principal, Jai Hind College. “Earlier, a fair
number of the first list would be ICSE and CBSE students but that will change now. Cut-offs
will rise by two to three percentage points from last year.”

But Father Frazer of St Xavier’s College rationalised, “While the cut-offs might rise, it will be
proportionate to the increase in every student’s scores, so the degree of competition will
remain the same.”
Stand:

Three years running the ICSE has been on the run and have emerged victorious in a battle
against the State Government. Though it is a celebration for many, the majority of the people
still think that this is a never ending tussle. It is a victory indeed but at what cost?

On a personal level I am against the decision of the Supreme Court to allow the ‘Best of 5’
scheme to all the boards for sake of admission to FYJC.

Following are arguments supporting my case:

1. The Government has shown that it is weak in its policy making and has succumbed
to the petition filed by the ICSE student’s parents three years in a row.
2. The decision being handed out is very bleak as soon the government will have to
face the angry faces of the SSC students this time around. This is because by
following this scheme the cut-off percentage is going to increase and will thus reduce
the scope of average students in SSC hence finding it difficult to compete with the
other board students.
3. The course curriculum all boards whether it be SSC, CBSE or ICSE are completely
different. It is impossible to map any two boards on the basis of the marks secured.
4. Other states have also encountered similar problems but have devised methods to
overcome them. In these states however no such decision on using the Best of 5 has
been used.
5. An optimised solution for such a complex problem could be a separate quota
reserved for the State Board students in every college. This will not only ensure the
quality of education (in terms of competition) but will also account for non-violation of
Article 14 of the Constitution of India.
6. As far as the reservation of marks as a sports quota, it is the government who should
lay down the guidelines for allotment of these marks which will then be uniformly
followed across all boards.

Hence the Government of India should take up this matter seriously and once and for all
make the amendments required and adhere to them stringently to ensure there is no future
unrest.