The Supreme Court on Tuesday began hearing on the complex issue of minority status of Aligarh Muslim University.
Presenting its stand, the Central Government told the court that considering the ‘national character’ of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), it cannot be a minority institution.
In 2016, the central government had withdrawn its support for minority status to Aligarh Muslim University.
Now the central government said its decision was based on “only constitutional considerations” as the previous United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government’s stance of fighting for it legally was “against the public interest” and reservation for marginalized sections. It was contrary to public policy.
During this, the top court said that merely because an educational institution is regulated by any law, its status as a minority institution does not end.
A seven-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud is hearing the complex issue.
The bench referred to Article 30 of the Constitution which deals with the rights of minorities to establish and operate educational institutions.
The top court said that to make Article 30 effective, there is no need for independent administration for any minority group to claim such status.
The Center said that AMU is not and cannot be a university of any particular religion or religious dominance because any university declared an institution of national importance cannot be a minority institution.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, in his written arguments in the apex court, said that the university has always been an institution of national importance, even in the pre-independence period.
AMU was established in 1875. The apex court had on February 12, 2019, referred the contentious issue of minority status of Aligarh Muslim University to a seven-judge bench.
A similar case was referred in 1981. The issue of minority status of the institute has been mired in legal dispute for several decades.
Emphasizing that the change of government at the Center is immaterial to the change in stance, the NDA government said the Central government should never have filed a separate appeal in the apex court against the 2006 judgment of the Allahabad High Court, In which it was said that AMU is not and has never been a minority institution.
The Center said the stand of the previous government was contrary to the decision of a five-judge bench in the Aziz Basha case in 1967.
The Supreme Court ruled against the minority status of AMU in the Basha case, noting that the university was neither established nor administered by the Muslim minority.
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