SC overrules its 1967 verdict denying minority status to AMU

New Delhi:   A 7-judge bench of the Supreme Court on Friday overrruled  its 1967 judgment in S. Azeez Basha vs. Union Of India according to which  Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) cannot claim to be a minority institution.since it was a a Central varsity,

The judgement was delivered by a 4:3 majority,

The status quo as regards the status of AMU will continue.

According to a LiveLaw report, regular bench will now decide whether Aligarh Muslim University is a minority institution.

“The view taken in the 1967 Azeez Basha case that an educational institution is not established by a minority if it derives its legal character through a statute is overruled,” ruled the Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud-led Constitution Bench.

According to today’s judgement, a regular Bench will decide the question of the minority status of AMU and correctness of the 2006 judgement of the Allahabad High Court which struck down the 1981 amendment conferring minority status on the varsity,

While observing that the regulation of minority educational institutions was permissible under Article 19(6), the majority opinion, concurred by Justices Sanjiv Khanna, J.B. Pardiwala, Manoj Misra, and SC Sharma, said that those regulations should not impinge upon the minority character of the institution.

The judges said, “Regulations, which may be justified on grounds stipulated under Articles 19(6) and 26, may fall foul to Article 30 if they infringe upon the minority character of the institution. This is a special right/protection which the Constitution guarantees to minority educational institutions.”

According to the majority view, it would be a dilution of Article 30, if it was to apply prospectively only to the institutions which were established after the commencement of the Constitution.

Just because the AMU was established by an imperial legislation, it would not mean that it was not ‘established’ by a minority, the judges held

The Parliament had passed a law,  the Aligarh Muslim University (Amendment) Act, 1981,  conferring minority status on the institution after a five-judge Constitution Bench in the 1967 Azeez Basha case had ruled that AMU, being a Central university, cannot claim to be a minority institution.

However, in 2006, the Allahabad High Court struck down the 1981 amendment conferring minority status on the institution.

The Constitution Bench was dealing with a reference arising out of the 2006 decision.

–India News Stream