The court’s observation that the only acceptable principle for seat allotment is the merit-cum-preference criterion, and that merit determinative processes such as entrance tests provide a common standard for judging students, should return us to the argument in favour of standardising board examinations and evaluation across the country. A single national board is supposed to be on the radar of Union HRD Minister Kapil Sibal. Such a uniform system of conducting examinations and assessing students thereof would end the hysteria and heartbreak associated with admissions annually, and court battles as in Maharashtra of late. It would not only make it easier for students to move about the country but also allow prompt and more accurate assessment of student calibre nationally, with the same parameters. It would certainly put paid to allegations and counter-allegations of unfairness and “unmerited” advantages.

The Maharashtra fiasco demonstrates it is time for the Union HRD ministry to start working on the contours of the single board, by talking to state governments and debating its relative merits and demerits. Care has to be taken that federalism and regional culture are not seen to be trampled upon and that any existing Central board, which can hardly be a paragon of perfection, does not find itself automatically elevated. The sooner the HRD ministry moves on this the better because it will be a long haul.