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22. In Dr. A.K. Jain (supra) regularization of ad hoc assistant medical officers and replacing them by freshly recruited Assistant Divisional Medical Officers was in issue, and the Supreme Court directed that the services of these employees, appointed earlier on ad hoc basis, be regularized in consultation with the Union Public Service Commission, on an evaluation of their work and conduct on the basis of their confidential reports.

23. The erstwhile Regional Engineering Colleges, now called the National Institutes of Technology, are Premier Institutions of higher learning with one such college being established in each state in the country. These institutions are rated just a notch below, the Indian Institutes of Technology, in the excellent standards maintained by them in imparting technical education. Centers of higher education should constantly strive to improve excellence, higher learning, rational thinking and a scientific temper with objectivity and fairness. Since ages our culture and civilization have recognized that education is one of the pious obligations of society to be discharged by the learned and/ or the State. (Dental Council of India v. Subharti K.K.B. Charitable Trust, ). A true teacher scintillates young receptive minds with scientific thought and encourages rational thinking and makes him serve society with pride of his alma mater. (Raj Pal Verma v. Chancellor of Meerut University, ). Education involves a continuous interaction between the teachers and the students. The pace of teaching, the level to which teaching can rise and the benefit which the students ultimately receive, depend largely on the caliber of teachers and the availability of adequate infrastructure facilities. Unless these educational facilities are provided, it would be difficult to meet with the ever increasing requirement of the younger generation to acquire the high degree of knowledge and education necessary to compete in the global market. (Preeti Srivastava (Dr.) v. State of M.P., .) The standards of higher education, including scientific and technical, need constant improvement. Coordinated action in higher education with proper standards is of paramount importance to national progress, Dissemination of learning with search for new knowledge with discipline all around must be maintained at all costs. Democracy depends for its very a life on a high standard of general, vocational and professional education. (Osmania University Teachers Association v. State of A.P., ).

24. Premier institutes have to continuously strive to achieve higher standards of academic excellence. Providing the best of facilities, and the best of teachers and selecting the best students, from across the length and breath of the country, as part of its constant endeavour to further improve its high educational standards, is undoubtedly in larger public interest.

25. In AIIMS Students' Union v. AIMS, , the Supreme Court held:

... .Rabindra Nath Tagore 's vision of a free India cannot be complete unless "knowledge is free" and "tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection". Almost a quarter century after the people of India have given the Constitution unto themselves, a chapter on fundamental duties came to be incorporated in the Constitution. Fundamental duties, as defined in Article 51-A, are not made enforceable by a writ of Court just as the fundamental rights are, but it cannot be lost sight of that "duties" in Part IV-A are prefixed by the same word "fundamental" which was prefixed by the founding fathers of the Constitution to "rights" in Part III. Every citizen of India is fundamentally obligated to develop a scientific temper and humanism. He is fundamentally duty-bound to strive towards excellence in all spheres of individual and collective activity so that the nation constantly rises to higher levels of endeavour and achievements. State is, all the citizens placed together and hence though Article 51-A does not expressly cast any fundamental duty on the State, the fact remains that the duty of every citizen of India is the collective duty of the State....In the era of globalisation, where the nation as a whole has to compete with other nations of the world so as to survive, excellence cannot be given an unreasonable go-by and certainly not compromised in its entirety. Fundamental duties, though not enforceable by a writ of the Court, yet provide a valuable guide and aid to interpretation of constitutional and legal issues. In case of doubt or choice, people's wish as manifested through Article 51-A, can serve as a guide not only for resolving the issue but also for constructing or moulding the relief to be given by the Courts. Constitutional enactment of fundamental duties, if it has to have any meaning, must be used by Courts as a tool to tab, even a taboo, on State action drifting away from constitutional values.

26. The State, and its Instrumentalities, would be justified, if not duty bound under Article 51-A, to develop a scientific temper and the spirit of inquiry among the citizens. If the respondent institution, an instrumentality of the state, in discharge of the fundamental duties under Article 51-A of the Constitution of India, endeavours to achieve a higher degree of excellence by attracting the best available talent in the country to join its teaching faculty, no interference would be called for.