NEWSLINKS US EDITION SOUTH ASIA COLUMNISTS DIARY SPECIALS INTERVIEWS CAPITAL BUZZ REDIFF POLL THE STATES ELECTIONS ARCHIVES US ARCHIVES SEARCH REDIFF
To maintain the level of excellence of the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences, one of India's premier medical institutions, the Supreme Court has quashed the reservation in post-graduate courses for the institute's graduates.
By asking the institution to adopt 50 per cent marks in the entrance test as the sole criterion for admission, the court has thrown open almost 100 seats for meritorious students from across the country.
A bench comprising Chief Justice A S Anand, Justice R C Lahoti and Justice Shivaraj V Patil said 33 per cent reservation for students of the AIIMS backed by a complex marking method worked out to a cent per cent reservation for these students.
"We have no hesitation in holding that reserving 33 per cent seats for institutional candidates was in effect 100 per cent reservation for subjects," the bench said.
Justice Lahoti, writing for the bench, said, "This is a conceited gimmick and accentuated politics of pampering students, weak in merit but mighty in strength.
"Such a reservation based on institutional continuity in the absence of any relevant evidence in justification thereof is unconstitutional and violative of Article 14 of the Constitution and has therefore to be struck down," he said.
The court said that after holding a common entrance test, the reservation given to the institution students even when they did not do well could not be upheld by any court.
"Mediocracy over meritocracy cuts at the roots of justice and hurts right to equality," Justice Lahoti said.
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