The State government, which filed an appeal on Thursday against a single judge’s interim order in the Plus Two course cases, justified the recommendations by the Cabinet subcommittee for granting Plus Two courses and additional Plus Two batches in certain schools.
In its appeal filed before a Division Bench of the Kerala High Court, the State government said that “the duties and responsibilities expected of the Cabinet subcommittee which was constituted over and above the scrutiny committee was to scrutinise the recommendations made by the scrutiny committee”.
The single judge had directed the State government to provisionally sanction Plus Two schools, courses and additional batches as recommended by a six-member committee headed by the Director, Higher Secondary Education (scrutiny committee), ignoring the Cabinet subcommittee’s recommendations.
Justifying the subcommittee’s recommendations, the government said that since the educational needs of a locality were related to the socio-economic conditions of the people there, “the people’s representatives are more able and competent to know the ground realities of that particular area”. The government contended that the proposals of the scrutiny committee were only recommendatory in nature and need not be accepted in their entirety. If the government felt that there were “cogent reasons” for differing from the proposals, “the same can be done”.
The government argued that the council of ministers and the government were the “supreme authority in relation to a scrutiny committee”. It said that the government had made it clear that if any school lacked adequate infrastructure, new batches sanctioned to it would be discontinued. The government pointed out that more than 9,000 students were waiting for admission to Plus One courses and any order interdicting admission would amount to denial of their right to education.