Department-Related Standing Committee on Education, Women, Children, Youth and Sports in its 370th Report asserted the constitutional permissibility of reservations in private Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs), citing several Supreme Court judgments.
Current Status of representation in Private HEIs
- Abysmally low representation of marginalized communities: e.g., in 2024-25, BITS Pilani reported only 10% OBC, 0.5% SC, 0.8% ST out of 5,137 students.
- High Fees as a Barrier: Private university fees are "substantial" making them unaffordable for students from marginalized sections of society.
Need for Reservation in Private HEIs
- Dominance of Private Sector: 65.3% of India's colleges are private unaided and 517 private universities exist. (AISHE 2021-22)
- Public Sector Incapacity: Public sector alone will be unable to accommodate all students given growing population and NEP's 50% Gross Enrolment Ratio target in higher education.
Constitutional Mandate for reservation in Private HEIs
- Article 15(5): Empowers the State to make special provisions for SCs, STs, and Socially and Educationally Backward Classes (SEBCs) in admissions to educational institutions, including private ones (excluding minority institutions).
- Judicial pronouncements: Supreme Court in Pramati Educational and Cultural Trust v Union of India (2014) explicitly upheld the constitutional validity of the entirety of Article 15(5).
Key Recommendations
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