Miffed Maharashtra government to challenge two other verdicts

On the back foot after the Bombay high court (HC) quashed the best-five rule for calculating percentages of Secondary School Certificate (SSC) board students, the state government has decided to defend itself strongly in the Supreme Court (SC). The state will hire a top lawyer to challenge three HC verdicts in three years regarding the ‘standardisation’ of junior college admissions.

The court termed the state’s best-of-five formula ‘discriminatory’ on Wednesday just as it had struck down the percentile system and 90:10 formula in 2008 and 2009, respectively. Given the HC ruling, a group of ministers comprising chief minister (CM) Ashok Chavan, deputy CM Chhagan Bhujbal, home minister RR Patil and education minister Balasaheb Thorat announced on Thursday that they would move the SC.

They unanimously believe a leading legal counsel like Harish Salve or Gulam Vahanvatti must be appointed to represent the state.

However, amid the tussle between the state and the HC, the fate of over 16 lakh SSC students hangs in the balance with junior college admissions stayed till July 10. The state will move the SC by June 30 since the court resumes work on July 5.

“We will pray for a stay on the HC order and permission to start the admission process on the day the petition is filed. In case the SC upholds the HC ruling, we will have the marksheets with the aggregate marks of six subjects ready,” an official from the state education department said.

“The verdict in the percentile rule should have been challenged two years ago, but the department decided against it as admissions were getting delayed. This time, we have decided to put up our case strongly at the cost of delaying admissions by nearly two weeks.”

The official said the board had expected the HC would rule in favour of the state.   

“We thought the HC would accept the right of the board, an autonomous body, to make changes in the marking system like the Central Board of Secondary Education has done,” he said. “Since the court pointed out ‘inequality’ under the best-five rule and cited earlier verdicts, we have no option, but to challenge the three rulings.”

The best-five formula proposes an SSC student’s top five scores in six subjects be considered to calculate his percentage. Twenty-one parents of Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE) board students had filed a petition against the rule, claiming they were at a disadvantage with seven subjects.