The occupation of education cannot be treated at par with other economic activities; State cannot be a mute spectator permitting exploitation ; Constitution Bench

SC upholds Madhya Pradesh Law regulating Admission and Fixation of Fee in Pvt Professional Colleges.A Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court of India Today upheld the constitutional Validity of M.P. Niji Vyavasayik Shikshan Sanstha (Pravesh Ka Viniyaman Avam Shulk Ka Nirdharan) Adhiniyam, 2007 (M.P. Act No.21 of 2007) and various Rules enacted by the Madhya Pradesh Government primarily to regulate the admission of students, fixation of fee and reservation in Post Graduate Courses in Private Professional Educational Institutions in the State. The Constitution Bench comprising of Justices AR Dave, AK.Sikri, RK.Agarwal, AK Goel and Banumati has dismissed the Appeals filed against the MP High Court Judgment holding that the occupation of education cannot be treated at par with other economic activities. In this field, State cannot remain a mute spectator and has to necessarily step in in order to prevent exploitation, privatization and commercialisation by the private sector. It would be pertinent to mention that even in respect of those economic activities which are undertaken by the private sector essentially with the objective of profit making (and there is nothing bad about it), while throwing open such kind of business activities in the hands of private sector, the State has introduced regulatory regime as well by providing Regulations under the relevant statutes, the Court addedChallenge before High CourtAssociation of Private Dental and Medical Colleges of State of Madhya Pradesh has filed Writ Petition No.1975 of 2008 challenging the provisions of Act 2007 as unconstitutional beyond legislative competence of the State Legislature and therefore without jurisdiction. In W.P. No.9496 of 2008, the association has also challenged the Admission Rule 2008 framed under Act 2007 as ultra vires the Constitution and M.P. Act 2007. The State Government issued orders on 28.02.2009 that the State Government shall conduct the Common Entrance Test (CET) for admission to the post-graduate medical and dental courses for the academic session 2008-2009 through Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board (VYAPAM). The Association has challenged the order dated 28.02.2009 authorizing VYAPAM to conduct the CET for admission to post-graduate medical and dental courses as arbitrary and contrary to the law laid down in T.M.A. Pai Foundation and P.A. Inamdar cases in W.P. No.2764 of 2009. Madhya Pradesh High Court by the common impugned judgment upheld the validity of the provisions of the Act and also the Rules and dismissed all the Writ Petitions. Rule 10(2)(iii) of 2009 Rules which prescribed that the candidate should have obtained permanent registration with the State Medical Council of Madhya Pradesh and not from State Medical Councils of other States for securing admission to post-graduate medical courses in any of the medical institution in the State of Madhya Pradesh was held to be ultra vires.In nutshell, the decision of the High Court on the three crucial aspects is on the following premise:(i) Re.: Admissions – Reading Section 6 with Section 3(d) of the Act, 2007, which deals with the CETs, it is held that provisions prescribing a CET for the purpose of admission to private unaided institutions are constitutional and valid since the same are in consonance with the dictum of the Constitution Bench judgment of this Court in the case of T.M.A. Pai Foundation, as per the law specially laid down in paragraphs 58 and 59 of the said judgment. The High Court has pointed out the manner in which the dictum of T.M.A. Pai Foundation is explained in the Constitution Bench judgment of this Court in the case of P.A. Inamdar, and applying the same the High Court had held that there is no violation of the fundamental rights of the writ petitioners since the provisions constituted reasonable restriction as accepted by and, therefore, saved under Article 19(6) of the Constitution. Quoting paragraphs 136 and 137 of P.A. Inamdar, the High Court held that the CET prescribed under Section 6 of the Act, 2007 will ensure that the merit is maintained. It is also concluded by the High Court that sufficient material that was placed on record to establish that prior to the enactment of the Act, 2007 clearly exhibited that private unaided institutions were not able to ensure a fair, transparent and non-exploitative admission procedure. As such, the High Court upheld the provisions of the Act, 2007 and the Rules, 2008 read with notifications issued thereunder to be constitutionally valid.(ii) Re.: Fee Regulation – With regard to the challenge to Sections 4(1), 4(8) and 9 of the Act, 2007 read with Rule 10 of the Rules, 2008, it is held that the power of the Fee Regulatory Committee under the provisions was only 'regulatory' and the purpose of which was to empower the Committee to be satisfied that the fee proposed by the private professional institutions did not amount to profiteering or commercialisation of education and was based on...

The occupation of education cannot be treated at par with other economic activities; State cannot be a mute spectator permitting exploitation ; Constitution Bench

M.A.Rashid

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