Whats in the name...

Is ‘Indian’ a monopoly of the govt?

SC Stays AICTE Ban On Pvt Colleges Using Such Words

Dhananjay Mahapatra | TNN

New Delhi: Does the government hold absolute copyright over appellations “Indian” and “national” when it comes to using them for educational institutions?
The issue has been thrown up by a fiat of the All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE), the apex regulatory body for engineering and technical education, prohibiting private institutions from using the words. Many institutions, fearing derecognition, fell in line. But Selvam Educational and Charitable Trust decided to contest the move.
Opposing the 2002 decision of the AICTE, the trust tossed a question to the Supreme Court bench asking if there could be a state monopoly over the words “Indian” and “national”. Arguing for the trust, advocate Arun Jaitley said the order marked a major anomaly where all kinds of commercial establishments were free to use “Indian” or “national” but a private engineering or technical institution couldn’t.
The trust, through advocate G Balaji, put forward another poser. Did the AICTE’s decision not come in conflict with the Emblems and Names (Prevention of Improper Use) Act that does not prohibit the use of the word “Indian” by any firm or company.
While issuing a notice to the AICTE, the bench stayed its controversial notification of 2002 till further orders, clearing the way for private institutions to use the appellations in dispute.
The Selvam Trust had set up The Indian Engineering College in 1984, which was recognised by the TN government. When the notification prohibiting the use of the words “Indian”, “national”, “All India”, etc was put in place, the trust was forced to change the name of the institute to escape derecognition. The Selvam Trust then approached the Madras HC, but it rejected its protest. The AICTE justified its decision saying it was meant to protect students from being duped by unscrupulous operators who have crowded the private sector in education.
Times View
The notion that the state should have the exclusive rights to use the word ‘Indian’ when it comes to naming educational institutions betrays a deeper malaise—the mindset that confuses the state with the nation. It would be an unacceptable reduction that the word ‘Indian’ refers to things that are owned by the government. The AICTE seems to believe that students might be fooled into believing that an educational institution is state-owned or state-run if it has the word Indian in its name. This is an insult to the intelligence of those who are seeking professional education in India. It should, even at this stage, recognize the error in its mindset and acknowledge that the word Indian belongs to all Indians, individually and collectively.