New Delhi. The Supreme Court on Friday issued its verdict on the minority status of Aligarh Muslim University. AMU’s minority status has been upheld in the Supreme Court decision. Delivering the verdict, CJI Chandrachud said that all the four judges are of the same opinion. While 3 judges have different opinions. The court also said the minority status will now be decided by a new three-judge court.
Justice Surya Kant, Justice Dipankar Dutta and Justice Sharma expressed their disagreement with the decision, while CJI DY Chandrachud drafted the majority decision for himself and Justice Sanjiv Khanna, Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Mishra.
The Supreme Court, by a 4-3 majority, rejected the 1967 decision that had become the basis for denying minority status to AMU. However, it left it to a three-judge court to redetermine AMU’s minority status based on the principles developed in this ruling. The new tribunal will decide the minority status of the university on the basis of terms and conditions.
In January 2006, the Allahabad High Court struck down the provision of the 1981 law under which AMU was granted minority status. The Supreme Court said in its decision that the case papers should be placed before the CJI to constitute a new three-judge bench to decide the validity of the Allahabad High Court decision of 2006. Rejecting its 1967 decision, the Supreme Court He said that since AMU is a central university, it cannot be considered a minority institution.
The CJI also said in his decision that the right under Article 30 is not absolute. Therefore, the regulation of minority institutions is protected by article 19(6). He said the SG has said that the Center is not insisting on the preliminary objection that reference cannot be made to 7 judges. It cannot be denied that Article 30 guarantees non-discrimination against minorities. The question is, is there any special right along with the right not to discriminate?
Aligarh Muslim University has minority status under Article 30 of the Constitution, which also grants religious and linguistic minorities the right to establish and administer educational institutions. The seven-judge Constitution Bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud delivered the verdict.
The bench also includes Justice Sanjeev Khanna, Justice Dipankar Dutta, Justice Surya Kant, Justice JB Pardiwala, Justice Manoj Mishra and Justice Satish Chandra Sharma. The court, after hearing arguments for eight days, had reserved its decision on this issue for February 1.
On February 1, on the issue of AMU’s minority status, the country’s top court had said that the 1981 amendment to the AMU Act, which effectively gave it minority status, had only half-functioned. The prestigious institution did not regain its pre-1951 status. The AMU Act of 1920 provided for a Muslim residential and teaching university in Aligarh. While the 1951 amendment provided for the abolition of compulsory religious education for Muslim students at the university.
This prestigious institution was established in the year 1875 as Anglo-Oriental Mohammedan College by the people of the Muslim community under the leadership of Sir Syed Ahmed Khan. After several years, in 1920, it became a university.
