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4. All the learned senior counsel submitted that while the State has the power to legislate on this subject, the unconstitutionality springs from the unreasonableness and irrationality. It was submitted that the attempt to unify the four systems cannot be sustained since unequals cannot be treated as equals and it would run contrary to the promise of Article 14. As per Section 4 of the Act, even for adopting English or Tamil as the medium of instruction, approval will be required. It was submitted that the since both the Civil Procedure Code and the Criminal Procedure Code are entries in List-III, the State should have obtained the President's assent as per Article 254(2) of the Constitution, especially when the Act intends to incorporate sections relating to bar of suits or initiation of criminal proceedings and without such assent, it is void. The Act is contrary to the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and Convention against Discrimination in Education, as our Supreme Court has drawn from such International Conventions while interpreting our Fundamental Rights, as in Vishakha vs. State of Rajasthan, A.I.R. 1997 S.C. 3011. It was submitted that by Regulation 7 of the Code of Regulations for Matriculation Schools in Tamil Nadu, the State assured that the Matriculation Schools will continue to be free as hitherto, to innovate with regard to their curriculum, and this freedom was a legitimate expectation that they had, which was also affirmed in the Full Bench judgment cited supra and now, the State has transgressed its limits. The word "norms" used in the Act is vague and when violation of the norms visits the school with harsh fine, then the penal provisions have to be struck down for vagueness since the norms which have not been clearly specified. Article 45 and Article 51 of the Constitution are violated by this Act. Learned senior counsel submitted that it may be contended by the State that ours is the only State which has hitherto prescribed school syllabus for matriculation schools, and the syllabus has been revised as recently as 2005, for which there has been no complaint and therefore, it is not as if the State has suddenly usurped any power. But the learned senior counsel countered this by submitting that all along, the Regulations had been only recommendatory and not forced down the "throats of the schools". The Schools' right to engage in co-curricular activities is curbed. When computer education has become a necessity for every individual, the syllabus introduced in the Act does not include computer education. "The fundamental postulate of personal liberty excludes the power of the State to standardise and socialise its children by forcing them to attend public schools only. A child is not a mere creature of the State"  vide The Ahmedabad St. Xavier's College Society vs. State of Gujarat, (1974) 1 S.C.C. 717. But the State has actually violated this, by standardising the system. The State has misunderstood quality education to mean stultifying educational progress. It is only at the early age of the child that it is possible for her to assimilate and learn as many subjects as are offered and this Act interferes with that right. The learned senior counsel also submitted that now that the Central Act, viz. The Right to Education Act ('RTE Act' in short) has come into force with effect from 1.4.2010, the impugned State Act would have to give way to the Central Act, in view of Article 254(1) of the Constitution. Now the entire field of elementary education is occupied by the RTE Act and the State cannot lay down the syllabus nor specify norms nor can it punish schools for not complying with the Act so long as the schools are in conformity with the RTE Act. It was submitted that in the Preamble to the Act, it is stated that the four streams of education "are not uniform". The fact that they are not uniform does not mean that they do not provide quality education. Therefore, the fact that they are not uniform cannot justify the introduction of the present system which professes to ensure quality education. Diverse systems of education can equally provide quality education and therefore, the object has no nexus with the provisions of the Act. It is very doubtful whether the object sought to be achieved will become a reality merely because the Act has been introduced. There is also one other factor, i.e., if the Act really intends to achieve a common system of education, then it could not have excluded the other systems which still exist, viz. CBSE, ICSC, Baccalaureate and the children studying under those systems. If these Boards are also not brought under the scheme, then the object of social justice will remain on paper. It was submitted that the teacher will have to adapt the method of teaching depending on whether the school is in a rural area, or an urban area or a tribal area so that it is fine tuned to the local needs, but this Act's rigid formula will defeat the prime object, which is educating the child. The State's professed object can be achieved only after due deliberation, research, collaboration and consultation with experts in the field, but without any of these, the Act has been suddenly introduced. The Act ignores the psychological impact of the child which has been referred to in the Full Bench judgment cited supra. Though it is stated that there was a consultative process, in actual fact, the invitees to the meeting were only "informed" but not consulted. Even the counter affidavit mentions only two dates with regard to the consultation. Two dates would not be sufficient for such an ambitious enterprise and before really examining the issue from all perspectives, the State has brought the Act in haste. It was submitted that as children want to pursue higher education, students of Matriculation Schools find it easier to score marks and their performance in competitive examinations is much better than the students who have studied in State Boards. Now this Act will take away the edge which the Matriculation students enjoyed in the past. The State ought to have brought the State Board students to the level of Matriculation students, instead of which, they are reducing the Matriculation students to a lower level. Learned senior counsel relied on several judgments, which will be dealt with later.

7. The relevant provisions of the impugned State Act are as follows :-

"2. In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,--
...
(c) "Board" means the State Common Board of School Education constituted under Section 5;
...
(f) "matriculation schools" means a school approved as such under the Code of Regulations for Matriculation Schools;
...
(i) "school" means.
(i) any primary school, middle school, high school or higher secondary school maintained by the State or any local authority; or

The State's stand is that this Act has also reduced the load without diluting the quality.

42. We have already seen that the petitioners had not really challenged the power of the State to legislate. The petitioner-schools and the two other streams, viz. Oriental and Anglo-Indian Schools, have already subjected themselves to State's regulation for Classes XI and XII. The Tabular column above also shows that even upto Class X, the Oriental Schools follow only the State Board syllabus and textbooks and the change that is effected by the introduction of the Act cannot be attacked as unreasonable. In the Tamil Nadu Code of Regulations for Matriculation Schools, Regulation 7 provides that the schools will continue to be fee based, that the schools can use English as medium of instruction and they will continue to be free to innovate with regard to curriculum except for the last one year. For Anglo-Indian Schools, the Government reserves under Regulation 42, both the right to forbid and the right to prescribe the use of books.