"59. While we have no difficulty in agreeing with the respondents that there exists an intelligible differentia between government / government-aided schools on the one hand and private un-aided schools on the other, the question that needs examination is whether this differentia has a nexus with the object of such classification. The apparent and ostensible object is that schools which are not running as profit earning businesses ought to be treated at par with government / government-aided schools. That is apparent from the fact that government / government aided schools have a use factor of 1 and so do private unaided schools, which charge fees upto Rs. 600/- per month. The foundation on which the Use Factors of 2 and 3 are assigned to schools charging fees between Rs.601/- and Rs.1200/- per month and those charging fees in excess of Rs. 1200/- per month, respectively, appears to be the reasoning or, shall we say, assumption that these schools are profit making enterprises. But, what if that were not true? What if the schools charging higher fees were imparting a better quality of education with a better infrastructure without any individual or group of individuals profiteering from the enterprise? In such a situation, the nexus between the intelligible differentia and the object would disappear rendering the classification to be violative of Article 14 of the Constitution. Therefore, a classification based merely on the fee structure would not be a satisfactory means of achieving the object. Perhaps, one Use Factor could be assigned to all schools which are not profit making bodies / entities, irrespective of the fee structure. And, a
