The T.M.A. Pai Foundation case judgment held that it would be open to the Centre or the State Governments to enact legislation to prevent commercialisation of professional education, and to provide reservation. Kerala and Karnataka enacted their own laws providing for quotas in such colleges and they are pending adjudication before the Supreme Court. All the affected States urged the Centre earlier this year to enact a comprehensive law to regulate admissions and fees in private professional institutions.

The State Governments have now been asked to come up with their response within 15 days. The Ministry will put in place a multiparty committee -- proposed at last Tuesday's all-party meeting -- to evolve a political response. At Saturday's meeting, the Minister said that since a consensus evolved on the issue, it was now for the States to formulate their reply.

Their proposals will be referred to the committee and thereafter a draft legislation drawn up by the Ministry. There will be another round of consultations with the States ahead of the winter session to give shape to the proposed law. Though some States had come prepared with a fresh formulation, none of them was taken up for discussion on Saturday as the meeting was wound up within an hour.

The Ministry has learnt that some unaided engineering institutions in Tamil Nadu approached the State Government offering a certain percentage of their seats for reservation. Their contention is that they are conscious of the need for factoring in social justice but do not want quotas thrust on them.