JUSTICE ON NEET BRINGS CHEERS & POLICY BOOST

N the State of Kerala vs TP Roshana case (1979), Justice VR Krishna Iyer wrote, "The rule of law should not petrify life or be inflexibly mulish.

It is tempered by experience, mellowed by principled compromise, informed by the anxiety to avoid injustice and softens the blow within the marginal limits of legality. That is the karuna of the law." He went on to add, "Nor is law unimaginative, especially in the writ jurisdiction where responsible justice is the goal. The court cannot adopt a rigid attitude of negativity and sit back after striking down the scheme of government, leaving it to the helpless government caught in a crisis to make do as best as it may, or throwing the situation open to agitational chaos to find a solution by demonstrations in the streets and worse." In the recent National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (Undergraduate) case, the Supreme Court has delivered "responsible justice" in the spirit Justice Krishna Iyer highlighted.

The issue of capitation fees in medical and engineering admission is of grave concern. According to a 2015 estimate, capitation fees were the second highest generator of black money in India. The court's dealings of the issue date back to Unnikrishnan (1993), TMA Pai Foundation (2002), Islamic Academy (2003), PA Inamdar (2005) and CMC Vellore (2013), which the SC reviewed to hold NEET constitutionally valid.