SC: Aligarh Muslim Unversity minority status to be decided by regular bench

The Supreme Court on Friday deferred the question of Aligarh Muslim Unversity's minority status to a new bench and overruled the 1967 judgement that said the university cannot be considered a minority institution since it was created by a central law.

In a majority verdict headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) D Y Chandrachud, the bench laid down tests for considering the issue of AMU's minority status.

The outgoing CJI asked the case's judicial records to be placed before the regular bench, after receiving instructions from the CJI on the administrative side, for deciding the issue on the minority status besides adjudicating appeals against a 2006 verdict of the Allahabad High Court.

In January, 2006, the high court had struck down the provision of the 1981 law by which AMU was accorded the minority status.

At the outset, CJI Chandrachud said there were four separate opinions, including three dissenting verdicts.

In a dissenting opinion, Justice Surya Kant said the reference of the matter to a seven-judge bench by a division bench of the apex court was not correct whereas Justice Dipankar Datta echoed a similar sentiment opining it might set a "dangerous precedent".

Article 30 of the Constitution deals with right of minorities to establish and administer educational institutions.

The issue of AMU's minority status has been caught in a legal maze for the last several decades.

The top court had on February 12, 2019, referred to a seven-judge bench the contentious issue and a similar reference was made in 1981 previously.

The fabled institution, however, got back its minority status when Parliament passed the AMU (Amendment) Act in 1981.

The Congress-led UPA government at the Centre had moved in appeal against the Allahabad High Court's 2006 verdict apart from the university filing a separate petition against it.

The BJP-led NDA government informed the Supreme Court in 2016 that it would withdraw the appeal filed by the erstwhile UPA dispensation.

It had cited the apex court's 1967 judgement in the Basha case to claim that AMU was not a minority institution since it was a central university funded by the government.