Maharashtra govt to approach SC on 'best of 5'

The Maharashtra government has decided to approach the Supreme Court after the Bombay high court struck down the 'best of five' system for admissions in Class XI on the ground that it was discriminatory.

The decision to move the apex court was taken at a meeting of the state Cabinet, chaired by Chief Minister Ashok Chavan in Mumbai on Thursday.

Under the 'best of five' system, marks obtained in five subjects out of total six were to be counted in State Board of Secondary Education's Class 10 marks, leaving out the subject with lowest marks.

But, the high court while clearing the way for admission process for the next academic year described the system as discriminatory.

We will try to start admissions to Classs XI from July 10, Chavan said.

Around 16 lakh SSC students had studied as per the best of five system, he said.

The system violates the right to equality guaranteed by Article 14 of Constitution, a Division Bench of Acting Chief Justice J N Patel and Justice S C Dharmadhikari said on Wednesday.

The state government is of the view that marking systems of the Indian Certificate of Secondary Education and the Central Board of Secondary Education were more liberal, which puts students from the state board (SSC) at a disadvantage, and says that the best of five system is meant to "bring uniformity".