Wednesday, August 17 2005 18:47 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Opposing the Supreme Court judgement, barring the state from imposing quotas in private educational institutions, Left parties today (August 17, 2005) asked Government to enact a law to set up a regulatory mechanism to exercise social control over the entire education system.

"The next session of Parliament should discuss whether a new law was required or the Constitution be amended. There has to be some social control over the education system as we cannot treat it as a commodity," Left leaders, including Sitaram Yechury (Communist Party of India - Marxist) and A B Bardhan (Communist Party of India) (CPI) told reporters after a meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh here.

The issues, which required to be dealt with, include the fee structure, the admission policy, including reservation of seats for various categories of students and the course content, Yechury said.

The Left leaders, including Debabrata Biswas (Forward Bloc), D Raja (CPI) and Abani Roy (Republican Socialist Party) (RSP), said the issue would be discussed at a meeting of State Education Ministers on August 27, 2005 followed by an all-party meeting.

"Government favours bringing a new law or one to amend the Constitution in the Winter Session, to correct the situation arising out of the apex court's verdict," they said, adding that a decision has to be taken by that time before the new academic session began.

The Supreme Court had last week ruled that in unaided private institutions, including engineering and medical colleges, the State can neither impose reservation policy nor carve out its quota from the total number of seats.

Asked what the Left parties meant by 'social control' over education system, Yechury said, "By social control, we do not mean Government control. There can be an authority like the UGC. The State Governments can also set up similar authorities. Such an authority could oversee the issues relating to admissions including reservations, fee structure and the course content." He also added that the Left concerns have been shared and supported by all parties.

Yechury said the matter assumes significance as 54 per cent of the population today was below 25 years of age.

Later at a press conference, his party colleague Nilotpal Basu said, "The apex court's verdict would adversely affect the basic structure of the Constitution which protected the rights of minorities and scheduled castes, tribes and OBCs."

Criticising the judgement, he said, "It showed complete misunderstanding of the nature of educational institutions and would lead to further commercialisation of the sector."