New
Delhi:
Getting aid is not a fundamental right, the Supreme Court observed today and
said the government should take into account various factors such as financial
constraints and deficiencies while deciding on aid for educational
institutions.
Also,
when it comes to aided institutions, there cannot be any difference between a
minority and non-minority one, the court said.
“Right
to get an aid is not a fundamental right, the challenge to a decision made in
implementing it, shall only be on restricted grounds,” said a bench of Justices
S K Kaul and M M Sundresh.
“Therefore,
even in a case where a policy decision is made to withdraw the aid, an
institution cannot question it as a matter of right. Maybe, such a challenge
would still be available to an institution, when a grant is given to one
institution as against the other institution which is similarly placed,” the
bench said.
The
top court said if an institution does not want to accept and comply with the
conditions accompanying such aid, it is well open to it to decline the grant
and move on its own way.
“On
the contrary, an institution can never be allowed to say that the grant of aid
should be on its own terms,” the bench said.
The
court's observations came while allowing Uttar Pradesh's appeal challenging the
Allahabad High Court verdict holding that Regulation 101 framed under The
Intermediate Education Act, 1921 is unconstitutional.
The
bench said that a policy decision is presumed to be in public interest, and
such a decision once made is not amenable to challenge, until and unless there
is manifest or extreme arbitrariness, a Constitutional court is expected to
keep its hands off.
“An
executive power is residue of a legislative one, therefore the exercise of said
power i.e., the amendment of the impugned regulation, cannot be challenged on
the basis of mere presumption,” the bench said.
Once
a rule is introduced by way of a policy decision, a demonstration on the
existence of manifest, excessive and extreme arbitrariness is needed, the court
said.
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