Courting trouble

The Kerala High Court verdict on self-financing colleges in the state has elicited a long response in People’s Democracy from AIFUCTO president Thomas Joseph, who starts by saying the court had “taken away the authority of the state to provide for a centralised single window admission,” determine fee structure and provide reservation, and “freeship to 50 per cent of the admitted students on merit cum means basis”. He also says that by striking down section 7 of the Kerala Professional Colleges Act, the high court had “struck down the educational aspirations of the poor and their prospects for a better life”. According to him, the verdict had “little appreciation for the social philosophy of taxation and its implications on public finance and public welfare. This is not an apolitical view... it is a neoliberal, capitalist view. It is opposed to the socialist ethos of our constitution.”

Compiled by Ananda Majumdar