Getting Aid Not A Fundamental Right, Says Supreme Court

An institution can never be allowed to say that the grant of aid should be on its own terms, Supreme Court said

Getting aid is not a fundamental right, the Supreme Court observed today and said the government should take into account various factors such as financial constraints and deficiencies while deciding on aid for educational institutions.

Also, when it comes to aided institutions, there cannot be any difference between a minority and non-minority one, the court said.

"Right to get an aid is not a fundamental right, the challenge to a decision made in implementing it, shall only be on restricted grounds," said a bench of Justices S K Kaul and M M Sundresh.

"Therefore, even in a case where a policy decision is made to withdraw the aid, an institution cannot question it as a matter of right. Maybe, such a challenge would still be available to an institution, when a grant is given to one institution as against the other institution which is similarly placed," the bench said.