Is Aligarh Muslim College a minority establishment? Supreme Court docket will give its verdict

New Delhi:

The Supreme Court docket will give its verdict on the minority standing of Aligarh Muslim College (AMU) on Friday. The choice of the Supreme Court docket will resolve whether or not Aligarh Muslim College ought to be given the standing as a minority establishment or not. The Supreme Court docket will resolve in its resolution what are the factors for granting minority establishment standing to an academic establishment beneath Article 30 of the Structure. The Supreme Court docket will even resolve whether or not an academic establishment created by parliamentary legislation can get hold of minority standing beneath Article 30 of the Structure.

The Supreme Court docket will resolve whether or not AMU is a minority establishment or not. A structure bench of seven judges will give the decision. This resolution will come on Friday at 10.30 am. The impact of this resolution will probably be that if the Supreme Court docket accepts that AMU will now not have minority standing, then SC/ST and OBC quota will probably be relevant in it additionally. Moreover, this will even have an effect on Jamia Millia Islamia.

On this case, a bench of seven judges had reserved its verdict on February 1 after listening to it for eight days. Now this resolution will come after 9 months. The Structure bench of seven judges consists of CJI DY Chandrachud, Justice Sanjiv Khanna, Justice Surya Kant, Justice JB Pardiwala, Justice Dipankar Dutta, Justice Manoj Mishra and Justice Satish Chandra Sharma.

The query earlier than the Supreme Court docket is whether or not an establishment established by legislation will be given minority standing or not. The problem of minority standing of AMU has been caught in authorized problems for the final a number of many years. On February 12, 2019, the courtroom had despatched the case to a structure bench of seven judges. The same reference was additionally made in 1981.

Within the yr 1967, within the case of S. Aziz Basha vs. Union of India, a five-judge Structure bench had stated that since AMU is a central college, it can’t be thought-about a minority establishment. Nonetheless, it regained its minority standing when Parliament handed the AMU (Modification) Act in 1981. Later in January 2006, the Allahabad Excessive Court docket struck down the availability of the AMU (Modification) Act, 1981 by which the college was given minority standing.

The Congress-led UPA authorities on the Heart filed an enchantment towards the 2006 Allahabad Excessive Court docket order. The college additionally filed a separate petition towards it. However in 2016, Modi authorities expressed the alternative stance of UPA. Through the listening to within the Supreme Court docket, the Central Authorities protested and stated that there isn’t a level in giving minority standing to Aligarh Muslim College.

Chief Justice DY Chandrachud had additionally talked about protecting any academic establishment open to all as a substitute of limiting it to minorities. Whereas submitting written arguments within the Supreme Court docket, the present NDA authorities has proven the alternative perspective of the UPA authorities of 10 years in the past. In its argument filed by way of Solicitor Basic Tushar Mehta, the Central Authorities has stated that Aligarh Muslim College shouldn’t be given the minority tag. It’s because AMU has a nationwide character. AMU can’t be a college of any explicit faith as a result of it has at all times been a college of nationwide significance.

The Modi authorities instructed the Supreme Court docket that contemplating its “nationwide character”, Aligarh Muslim College can’t be a minority establishment. It can’t be an establishment of any explicit faith.

The UPA authorities had filed an enchantment within the Supreme Court docket towards the 2006 resolution of the Allahabad Excessive Court docket. Allahabad Excessive Court docket had dominated that AMU isn’t a minority establishment. The then UPA authorities had challenged this within the Supreme Court docket. Nonetheless, in 2016, the NDA authorities knowledgeable the Supreme Court docket that it was withdrawing the enchantment filed by the UPA authorities.

In his written argument filed earlier than the apex courtroom, Solicitor Basic Tushar Mehta stated that the college has at all times been an establishment of nationwide significance, even within the pre-independence period.

Aligarh Muslim College was established in 1875. In accordance with the Centre, AMU is an establishment of nationwide character. The doc stated {that a} survey of the paperwork associated to the institution of Aligarh Muslim College and even the then current legislative place exhibits that AMU was at all times an establishment with a nationwide character. Citing the controversy within the Constituent Meeting, it says {that a} college which was and is clearly an establishment of nationwide significance ought to be a non-minority college. The college has been given a particular standing by being included in entry 63 of the listing because it was thought-about an “Institute of Nationwide Significance”. SG stated that the Structure has not thought-about it as a minority establishment or in any other case.