| Pune
Edition, 27th Sep 2008
Mumbai: The Bombay High Court’s decision
of scrapping the percentile system of admission to junior
college brought little solace to thousands of students from
other boards who were forced to give up dreams of studying
in some of Mumbai’s better-known junior colleges. The
verdict will not affect admissions, which are already over
this year, and will only affect admissions from the next academic
year.
But that failed to be a dampener for 16-year-old Francisco
Luis, who had petitioned the court against the percentile
system. The ICSE passout said the system — announced
after the process for admissions to junior colleges had already
started this year—gave SSC students a headstart over
students from other boards. “I am happy. We struck a
blow against the political establishment. I am not upset that
I have been affected; at least, my brother and sister and
all future batches will gain admission on the basis of only
merit,” he said on Friday.
State school education secretary Sanjay Kumar refused to comment
on the issue till he got a final copy of the order. In an
interview that appeared in TOI on July 19, he had said: “I
am thinking of 15 lakh students who will benefit, not just
10,000. It is unfair to say a lot of people have been affected;
have you carried out a plebiscite?”
A two-judge bench comprising CJ Swatanter Kumar and Justice
A.P. Deshpande had, after a lengthy hearing, differed on the
verdict on August 25. Justice Deshpande upheld the state’s
move, finding nothing discriminatory or wrong if “some
SSC students benefited”, while the CJ felt the government
order deserved to be quashed out.
Justice Patel, agreeing with CJ Kumar, said: “The state
may, to achieve normalisation, devise a new method acceptable
in law.” He noted that there were various boards conducting
class-X examinations based on syllabi, examination and evaluation
patterns that were different. The ‘need of the day’
was, therefore, “to streamline class-XI admissions,
he felt. But it should be done “well in advance so as
to put students on notice and enable them to choose their
colleges well”, he felt. TNN
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