A seven-judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court Friday, in a 4:3 majority ruling overturned a key 1967 judgment on the Aligarh Muslim University- which removed the minority status. However, whether AMU will retain its minority status or not has been left for a separate Bench to decide.
The 1967 Supreme Court Judgement in Azeez Basha vs Union of India held that AMU cannot claim minority status as the university was established by a statute In the judgment on Friday, the top court held that an institution would not lose its minority status because the government brought to a law to regulate or govern it. The judgment was pronounced by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud on his last working day.
“Merely because the AMU was incorporated by imperial legislation would not mean that it was not established by a minority. It cannot be argued that the university was established by Parliament merely because the statute says it was passed to establish the university,” the majority judgment said.
The court said that whether an institution is a minority or not, it needs to look at who established the institution.”The court has to consider the genesis of the institute and the court must see who was the brain behind the establishment of the institution. It has to be seen who got funds for the land and if the minority community helped,” the court said.
“To be a minority institution, it only had to be established by the minority and not necessarily be administered by the minority members. Minority institutions may wish to emphasise secular education and for that, minority members are not needed in administration,” the court ruled.
The 1967 Judgment
In a 1976 Judgment, the Supreme Court held that AMU was established by a minority however it was founded due to the efforts of Muslims. The court further held that the law governing the university made it a non-minority institution.
The Background
The Aligarh Muslim University came into existence in 1875 and incorporated by imperial law in 1920.
A 1951 amendment to the imperial law, the AMU Act, eliminated mandatory religious instruction for Muslim students.
A subsequent amendment in 1981 attempted to restore the earlier policy, but the majority opinion, led by the Chief Justice, deemed it a “half-hearted effort.”
In 1967, a five-judge Constitution bench, in the case of S Azeez Basha vs. Union of India, ruled that since Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) is a central university, it could not simultaneously be considered a minority institution.
In 2006, the Allahabad High Court rejected the 1981 amendment, ruling that AMU was not a minority institution. This decision was later challenged, and the Congress-led UPA government at the center appealed the verdict, leading to the matter being referred to the Supreme Court.
The 2004 Judgement
In early 2024, a seven-judge bench of the Supreme Court reserved judgment on whether AMU could claim minority status. The hearings involved extensive arguments regarding historical interpretations and constitutional rights. The government contended that AMU forfeited its minority rights due to its historical alignment with British colonial interests and its legislative foundation.
