Allahabad High Court’s decision in the S Azeez Basha vs Union of India case is overruled by a seven-judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court, in a 4:3 majority ruling. It was on how a minority character of an institution is determined, thereby paving the way for Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) to get the tag.
The Bench was presided by the Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud, was hearing a plea on a reference that started from a 2006 verdict of the Allahabad High Court which held that AMU, established through an imperial legislation in 1920, was not a minority institution.
The CJI said while reading out the judgment that the majority verdict was by him and Justices Sanjiv Khanna, JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra. Without minority status, AMU will have to start implementing reservation policies for both the teachers and students in a similar manner as other public universities. If this status is granted, the university can provide up to 50% reservation for Muslim students.
Presently, AMU does not follow any reservation policies of the state. However, it does have an internal reservation policy, where 50% of seats are reserved for students who have studied in its affiliated schools or colleges.
This issue, which is almost half a century old, was once decided before the Supreme Court when a five-judge Constitution Bench held that AMU was not a minority institution. The court, in 1967, had referred to the Aligarh Muslim University Act, 1920, which established the university and held that AMU was neither established nor administered by the Muslim community, a requirement for minority educational institutions under Article 30 (1) of the Constitution.
The Act was amended in 1981 to state that the university had been “established by the Muslims of India”. In 2005, the university reserved 50% of seats in postgraduate medical courses for Muslim students. The Allahabad High Court had struck down the reservation policy and the 1981 amendment following which, the verdict was challenged in the Supreme Court.
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