Aligarh Muslim University entitled to minority status, rules Supreme Court
The Supreme Court in a majority ruling paved the way for Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) to get the minority institution. In its verdict, in a 4:3 ruling, the apex court ruled in favour of AMU being entitled to the minority status under Article 30 of the Constitution of India.
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The bench was presided by CJI DY Chandrachud comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna, Surya Kant, JB Pardiwala, Dipankar Datta, Manoj Misra and SC Sharma was hearing a reference which rose out of the 2006 verdict of the Allahabad High Court that deemed AMU not a minority institution.
The CJI said he wrote the majority verdict for himself, Justices Sanjiv Khanna, JB Pardiwala, and Manoj Misra, while Justices Surya Kant, Dipankar Datta and Satish Chandra Sharma penned their separate dissenting verdicts.
According to a report in Bar and Bench, the apex court said that the minority status of an educational institute would not cease merely because it is governed by non-minority members or that the parliament enacted a law to regulate or govern such institutes.
The court overruled the 1968 judgment in the S Azeez Basha vs Union of India case, in which it had held that the minority character of AMU ceased because of a parliamentary law regulating the university.
The court said it is important to keep in mind who established the institution while determining whether it is a minority institution, as per the report.”The court has to consider the genesis of the institute and court must see who was the brain behind establishment of the institution. It has to be seen who got funds for the land and if minority community helped,” the Court said.
For an institution to hold a minority status, it only had to be established by a minority and not necessarily governed by minorities. Since it might emphasise on secular education, minority members are not required in the administration, the court said.
Merely because the government regulates a minority institute by bringing in a law does not mean that it will cease to be a minority institute, the court said. The bench said that the government can regulate minority educational institutions as long as it does not infringe the character of such an institute.
