The Supreme Court decisions can no longer be considered unassailable. Yet its request to the NDA government to do away with reservations in higher educational institutions should be welcome. The quota system in the groves of academe reserving seats to cater to SC, ST and OBC communities has raised eyebrows for decades but the system continues. The setting up of more such institutions is not an answer to the basic problem. The objection arises from the fact that the quota system is unrelated to merit and academic proficiency. Not that there are no eligible candidates coming from these depressed communities. But a great many of them get admission despite being less meritorious than students from high caste segments of society. As demand still outstrips supply in the higher reaches of academic studies, the result is that the more qualified are sometimes left out for caste considerations. The system leads to the operation of Gresham’s law in the vital sector. Since teaching standards have to be adapted to the receptive ability of the less meritorious, the more meritorious do not receive what they deserve. This is an extension of what Gresham implied in his formulation of bad money driving out good. Though the apex court has made its request to the Centre only with reference to the supply of training by the Medical Council of India, it should be applicable to all higher educational institutions as the system is decidedly against the national interest and is encouraged only by vested political interests. Equality of all communities in academic pursuits cannot be manufactured by official diktat.

It is not to be argued, however, that the abolition of the system of reservations alone will do wonders for our ailing higher education. The HRD ministry is polluting the ambience with a number of fruitless confrontations. The authorities have done little to meet the dire shortage of quality faculty. The UGC emerged victorious after a counterproductive battle with Delhi University’s four year undergraduate programme. Following that, it picked a fight with the IITs, claiming jurisdiction over the degrees they conferred. Later, the HRD ministry had a pointless spat with Anil Kakodkar, chairman of the IIT-Bombay board. Subsequently, an altercation looked like erupting with the directors of the oldest IIMs which grew apprehensive about the impairment of their autonomy. What seems to be the deep-seated malady of higher educational institutions is governmental and bureaucratic hamhandedness.