Getting financial aid is not a constitutional right: Supreme Court ruling

Educational institutions cannot get grants on their own terms

Grant should be refused if the educational institution does not want to comply with the terms and conditions for obtaining the grant

New Delhi: The Supreme Court has said that getting help is not a constitutional right. The government may consider various factors, including financial constraints and shortcomings, when providing assistance to educational institutions.

Now, when it comes to providing assistance to organizations, they cannot be discriminated against like non-minority and non-minority organizations, the apex court said. Judge SK. A bench of justices Kaul and MM Sundaresh said that it was not a constitutional right to seek assistance.

The bench said that now that a decision has been taken to drop any aid, the institution cannot question it by upholding the right. This is a challenge for any organization. Grants are available for one organization but not for another.

Now if the educational institution does not want to follow the terms and conditions for getting the grant, it should refuse to take the grant and run the institution in its own way. Apart from this no organization can say that I should get a grant based on these conditions.

The apex court made the observation in the wake of the Allahabad High Court challenging the Rule 101 order framed under the Intermediate Education Act 1921 by declaring it unconstitutional by the Uttar Pradesh government. The Supreme Court said the ability to challenge the implementation of this decision becomes limited when it is no longer a constitutional right to seek assistance.

The bench said the policy decision is taken in the public interest. Such a decision cannot be challenged unless it has the utmost discretion. The bench said that the administrative power is a remnant of the statutory power, hence the amendment to the ambiguous law cannot be challenged on the basis of mere estimation or conjecture when it comes to the alleged exercise of power.