TN must change mindset, allow Hindi in schools: SC

TN must change mindset, allow Hindi in schools: SC 

‘States Should Not Act Like Countries’   18.09.2026

New Delhi: Supreme Court on Thursday told Tamil Nadu govt that it needed to change its mindset towards teaching Hindi in schools and should thrash out issues with Centre on setting up Navodaya Vidyalayas in every district. As Vijay-led TN govt took the same stand taken by the previous DMK govt, a bench of Justices B V Nagarathna and A G Masih said individual states cannot act like an individual country. “You have to change your mindset, it can’t be that Hindi will not be taught on the soil of TN,” the bench told the state govt. 

TN has been opposing setting up of these schools as they follow a three-language policy, including Hindi, which is against TN’s two-language policy. “We are saying in addition to all the good things you’re doing in your state, having something in addition will not bring down your standards. 

Coming from Delhi, will not lower the standards of Chennai. People in Chennai should not alienate Delhi and vice versa,” SC said. Senior advocate Jaideep Gupta, appearing for TN, submitted it is against federal structure to impose Centre’s decision on a state. “It is against the state policy. It supersedes Tamil. This kind of unification is not the purport of the Constitution. It is not a central govt school. It is a school run by a society. There is an adamancy that Hindi must predominate,” he told SC. Gupta submitted that cooperative federalism would never work in only one direction and such policy should not be enforced by SC. 

The bench, however, asked the state to comply with its order and posted the case for further hearing in Dec. Last Dec, it had directed TN to identify land required for establishing Navodaya Vidyalayas in each district within six weeks. “Comply with our earlier order. We are not asking you to acquire land. We are only asking to identify. We are concerned with the good of everybody. You can’t say I won’t accept a policy. Today it is education, tomorrow it will be something else. You have to relax this rigidity in your mind,” SC said.

SC awards pension to Mum engineer who forged ST cert

SC awards pension to Mum engineer who forged ST cert

Dhananjay.Mahapatra@timesofindia.com 05.09.2026

New Delhi: Supreme Court has rewarded a wrongdoer, a man who got appointed as a junior civil engineer in Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai by producing a forged ST certificate, and subsequently, stalled scrutiny of his eligibility for quota for more than a decade — by allowing him to superanuate in peace with retirement benefits. 

Shirish P Patil got a certificate in 1984 by identifying himself as belonging to the ‘Tokre Koli’ ST community. Based on the certificate, he was appointed a junior civil engineer in MCGM in 1994. He misplaced original ST certificate, but managed to secure a fresh one in Oct 2000. Following scrutiny of the caste certificate, the Police Vigilance Cell traced Patil’s family history and found that his ancestors had been recorded as ‘Koli’, ‘Hindu Koli’ and ‘Hindu Suryawanshi Koli’, none of which belonged to ST category. 

In July 2009, MCGM issued a show cause notice. He successfully dodged proceedings before the Scrutiny Committee until Jan 2020, when the panel rejected his plea that his lawyer and elderly family members were not available, and invalidated the ST certificate. Bombay HC dismissed his appeal. SC, however, stayed Patil’s dismissal through an interim order on Nov 18, 2021. As a result, he continued to serve until June 30, 2025, when he retired after being employed with MCGM for more than three decades based on a forged ST certificate. The SC bench on Thursday upheld the cancellation of Patil’s ST certificate and Bombay HC order. However, it took a lenient view given his undertaking that he or any of his family members “shall (not) be entitled to claim any future benefit on the basis of the invalidated ST certificate”.

We need doctors in this country’: SC dismisses plea seeking cap on private medical college fees

We need doctors in this country’: SC dismisses plea seeking cap on private medical college fees

Court upholds Rajasthan HC order, refuses directions on fee regulation despite concerns over affordability for EWS candidates.

Petitioner argued annual fees of up to ₹25 lakh undermine EWS reservation benefits; court says issue falls within regulators’ domain.(File Photo | ANI)

Suchitra Kalyan Mohanty

Updated on:

25 Jun 2026, 7:56 am

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to interfere with the fee structure of the private medical colleges in Rajasthan, observing that “we need doctors in this country” while dismissing a petition that called the charges exorbitant.

A bench of Justices B V Nagarathna and Joymalya Bagchi heard a Special Leave Petition (SLP) challenging a Rajasthan High Court order. The HC had earlier rejected a plea by a medical aspirant claiming annual tuition fees in private colleges range from `18.90 lakh to `25 lakh, which, he said, was inconsistent with the `8 lakh income cap for EWS reservation.

“We need doctors in this country,” said the top court while refusing to entertain a plea which alleged that the fee structure in private medical colleges in Rajasthan was exorbitant.

The counsel argued that high fees made MBBS unaffordable for EWS candidates despite quotas and urged the court to direct the state and Centre to cap fees at affordable levels.

The bench, however, declined to step in and refused to pass any order on the plea. “Medical education requires infrastructure, faculty, and equipment. Fee fixation is a policy decision for regulators,” it said while dismissing the plea.

Noting that fee regulation falls within the domain of the state authorities and bodies like the Medical Council, the SC clarified that judicial interference is warranted only if there is manifest illegality or arbitrariness, which was not shown here in this present case. “One person cannot say that it is exorbitant in private institutions and make it on par with government institutions,” the bench observed.

The bench observed that one has the option to avail a scholarship. “We need doctors in this country,” it said. “We don’t find any reason to interfere with the impugned order passed by the high court. The special leave petition is dismissed. Question of law, if any, is kept open,” the bench said.

With this, the SC upheld the High Court’s order. No directions were issued to the Centre, Rajasthan government, or MCI/NMC on fee caps.

The petitioner is a general category candidate, who possesses an EWS certificate. He felt aggrieved that the counseling board allocated him a seat in a private college despite he giving preference for 73 colleges.

He argued that EWS students were charged the same fee as other general category students, thus making medical education unaffordable to the EWS students. He also relied on a National Medical Commission notice, which stated that 50 per cent of seats in private colleges should be at par with government colleges.