Wednesday, December 04
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The Supreme Court, in a 4-3 majority decision, has overturned its 1967 ruling in the S. Azeez Basha vs. Union of India case, which had denied Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) minority status. However, the court left the final decision on AMU's minority status to a three-judge bench, which will reassess the matter based on the principles laid out in this new judgment.

A seven-judge Constitution Bench delivered four separate opinions on the case. Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, writing for himself and Justices Sanjiv Khanna, JB Pardiwala, and Manoj Misra, penned the majority ruling. Justices Surya Kant, Dipankar Datta, and Satish Chandra Sharma gave dissenting opinions.

The case revolves around AMU’s status as a minority institution, a question that has been debated for decades. The AMU Act of 1920 established the university as a teaching and residential Muslim institution. However, a 1951 amendment removed the requirement for compulsory religious instruction for Muslim students.

In 1981, Parliament amended the AMU Act to recognize the university as a minority institution, but the amendment was seen as incomplete. The Allahabad High Court struck down this provision in 2006, stating that AMU could not be considered a minority institution since it is a central university funded by the government. This decision was challenged in the Supreme Court.

The BJP-led NDA government, unlike the previous Congress-led UPA government, argued against AMU’s minority status, citing the 1967 Basha case, which ruled that AMU could not claim minority status because it was created by an Act of Parliament and heavily funded by the government.

Veteran lawyer Kapil Sibal, supporting AMU’s minority status, argued that its Muslim character should not be judged solely by the composition of its governing council. On the other hand, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta maintained that a central university, declared as an institution of national importance and funded by the government, cannot belong to a specific religious group.

The Supreme Court has now referred the matter to a smaller bench to decide whether AMU’s minority status should be restored based on its historical and legal foundations.

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