A Special Right: Supreme Court’s AMU Verdict Paves Way for Defining Character of Minority Institutions
09 November 2024 | The Indian Express (Print)
On Friday, the Supreme Court stopped short of designating the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) as a minority institution. But its 4:3 verdict has provided a firm jurisprudential backing for clearing the controversy around AMU’s status. It lays the ground for satisfying the university’s longstanding quest to define itself as a minority institution. The judgment reverses the 1967 SC decision in S Azeez Basha v Union of India — the SC had then relied on a technical interpretation of the guarantee to religious minorities, in Article 30, to establish and run educational institutions. It had ruled that AMU was neither “established nor administered” by Muslims. Though the university evolved from the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College founded by Syed Ahmed Khan in 1877, the Court had held that the institution’s legal status rested on the AMU Act 1920…