SC to pronounce verdict on Aligarh Muslim University's minority status today

The Supreme Court is scheduled to pronounce its verdict on Friday on a vexed legal question whether the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) enjoyed a minority status under Article 30 of the Constitution which empowers the religious and linguistic minorities to establish and administer educational institutions.

A seven-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud will pronounce the verdict. The bench also comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna, Surya Kant, J B Pardiwala, Dipankar Datta, Manoj Misra and Satish Chandra Sharma had reserved its verdict on the question on February 1 after hearing arguments for eight days.

On February 1, grappling with the intractable issue of the AMU's minority status, the top court said the 1981 amendment to the AMU Act, which effectively accorded it a minority status, only did a "half-hearted job" and did not restore to the institution the position it had prior to 1951.

While the AMU Act, 1920 speaks about incorporating a teaching and residential Muslim university in Aligarh, the 1951 amendment does away with compulsory religious instructions for the Muslim students at the university.

The vexed question has repeatedly tested Parliament's legislative acumen and judiciary's prowess in interpreting complex laws involving the institution that was founded in 1875 as Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College by prominent Muslim community members led by Sir Syed Ahmed Khan. Years later in 1920, it transformed into a university under the British Raj.

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"One thing which is worrying us is that the 1981 amendment does not restore the position as it stood prior to 1951. In other words, the 1981 amendment does a half-hearted job," Justice Chandrachud had said while proceeding to close the arguments.

"I can understand if the 1981 amendment had said... Okay, we are going back to the original 1920 statute, confer complete minority character on this (institution)," the CJI had said. Earlier, the BJP-led NDA government refused to accept the 1981 amendment to the AMU Act and insisted that the court should go by the five-judge constitution bench verdict in the S Azeez Basha versus Union of India case in 1967. The Constitution bench had then held that since the AMU was a central university, it cannot be considered a minority institution.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by DNA staff and is published from PTI)