A seven-judge Bench of the Supreme Court on Tuesday started hearing the matter pertaining to Aligarh Muslim University’s minority character. This is a dispute that dates back almost 57 years and has been adjudicated upon multiple times by different courts.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta asserted in his written submissions to the top court that “Aligarh Muslim University is not and cannot be a University of any particular religion or religious denomination as any University which is declared by the Constitution of India to be of national importance should, by definition, cannot be a minority institution,” according to media reports.
Mehta emphasized that the university has historically been an institution of national importance, even before independence. According to media reports, he stated, “Therefore, as per the submission of the Union of India, the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) is an institution of a national character. A survey of the documents surrounding the establishment of the Aligarh Muslim University and even the then-existing legislative position enunciates that the AMU was always an institution having a national character.”
The declaration of AMU as a “minority institution” would exempt it from implementing the reservation policy, leading to separate admission procedures. Mehta expressed concerns about the potential drastic consequences, particularly for an institution of AMU’s scale and history, and argued, “It is submitted that a large national institute like Aligarh Muslim University ought to maintain its secular origins and serve the larger interest of the nation first.”
Referring to the AMU Act, Mehta pointed out that throughout the amendments to the law, the understanding of AMU’s character being ‘national’ and ‘non-minority’ has been consistently clear. He stated, “Therefore, the mere omission of the word ‘establish’ from the Preamble and addition of ‘established by the Muslims of India’ in the definition of the University Section 2(l) of the Aligarh Muslim (University) Act cannot change the historical fact that the University was established by efforts of a large number of people, including the State, which had no religion, and by an Act of the Indian Legislative Council, which did not provide for a predominant minority character to the University.”
“The case of Aligarh Muslim University and Banaras Hindu University is sui generis (unique) since the framers of the constitution chose to place these two universities in List I as a part of Entry 63, though the subject of education is otherwise in the State List (at the time of independence). This exhibits the national character of the University and its stand,” the submission added.
The longstanding debate on AMU’s minority status dates back to 1967 when a five-judge constitution bench ruled in S. Azeez Basha And Anr vs Union Of India that since AMU was a central university, it cannot be considered a minority institution. However, the university regained its minority status with the enactment of the AMU (Amendment) Act in 1981. In January 2006, the Allahabad High Court nullified the provision of the 1981 law that conferred minority status upon the university.
In response, the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government appealed against the high court’s decision, and simultaneously, the university filed a separate petition against it. In 2016, the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance government stated to the Supreme Court that it would withdraw the appeal filed by the erstwhile UPA government, citing the apex court’s 1967 judgment in the Azeez Basha case. However, in February 2019, the Supreme Court held that the correctness of Azeez Basha has remained undetermined and referred the matter to a seven-judge bench to decide whether the judgment is correct or not.
While the discussion about the university’s status has been ongoing, the controversy gained renewed attention in 2018, partly due to a statement made by Ram Shankar Katheria, the BJP MP from Agra and the chairman of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes at that time. Katheria had said, “This is not Pakistan, the university has to follow the rules,” referring to AMU’s exemption from implementing the reservation policy. The national commission then issued a statement, asserting that AMU would have to implement the reservation policy, as required by all central universities, unless it submits documents to prove its minority status.
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