NEW DELHI: Noting that Article 30 of the Constitution was not intended to “ghettoise the minority”, the Supreme Court (SC) on Thursday wondered if it mattered whether Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) was a minority institution or not when it has continued to be an institute of national importance without the minority tag.
“Without the minority tag, the institution has continued to be an institution of national importance. How does it matter for the people whether it is a minority institution or not? It is only the brand name, AMU,” a seven-judge Bench led by CJI DY Chandrachud said on the third day of hearing on the contentious issue.
“The object of Article 30 is not to ghettoise the minority,” it said while examining if a centrally funded university established by parliamentary statute could be designated a minority institution under Article 30 of the Constitution which conferred right to “establish and administer” educational institutions on religious and linguistic minorities.
The Bench, which also included Justice Sanjiv Khanna, Justice Surya Kant, Justice JB Pardiwala, Justice Dipankar Datta, Justice Manoj Misra and Justice KV Vishwanathan, would also test the correctness of a 2006 judgment of the Allahabad High Court, declaring that AMU was not a minority institution.
The 2006 verdict of the Allahabad HC was based on the top court’s 1967 judgment in ‘S Azeez Basha versus Union of India’ in which it was held that since AMU was a central university, it can’t be considered a minority institution.
However, on behalf of the petitioners, advocate Shadan Farasat said due to a status quo order issued by the top court, AMU continued to be a minority institution. The AMU and the then UPA government had challenged the 2006 Allahabad High Court verdict in the Supreme Court. However, the BJP-led NDA government in 2016 told the top court that it would withdraw the appeal filed by its predecessor government as “the previous stand was wrong”.
The Centre has now contended that given its “national character”, AMU “is not and cannot be” a university of any particular religion or religious denomination as any university which has been declared an institution of national importance cannot be a minority institution.