Quota not mandatory in PG courses, rules apex court

The court said the issue is left to the sole discretion of the government and the student cannot claim it as a matter of fundamental right. A bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan said though a preferential treatment can be given to candidates from  underprivileged sections, there is no constitutional obligation for the government to fulfill the same.

The apex court passed this judgement while dismissing a petition filed by Gulshan Prakash and others, who challenged the decision of the Haryana government that refused to provide reservation for SC/STs in MD/MS/PG diploma and MDS courses in Maharshi    Dayanand     University,   Rohtak, for the academic year 2007-2008.

The bench said: “Article 15(4) is an enabling provision and the State Government is the best judge to grant reservation for SC/ST/Backward Class categories at post-graduate level in admission and the decision of the State of Haryana not to make any provision for reservation at the post-graduate level suffers no infirmity.’’

“In our view, every state can take its own decision with regard to reservation depending on various factors,” the court said. Interpreting Articles 15(4) and 16(4), the apex court said the provisions only talked about a preferential treatment to the underprivileged sections, but it does not make it mandatory.